Looking Forward

Abstract

The essays in this book reveal the remarkable pace of change in heritage conservationHeritage conservation theory and practice since World War II and especially in the last two decades. Each chapter focuses on a specific topic relevant to current practice, difficult topics with no easy solutions: Historic Urban LandscapesHistoric urban landscapes, intangible heritageIntangible heritage, view protection, cultural landscapesCultural landscapes, sustainabilitySustainability, heritage communicationHeritage communication, wind turbines, the cultural value of nature, climate changeClimate change, reconstructionReconstruction and tourism. In the early 1990s, three important developments in the implementation of the World HeritageWorld Heritage Convention introduced a global dialogue that prepared the ground for this change. The framework for cultural landscapesCultural landscapes paved the way for sites with associated intangible values, the Nara DocumentNara Document on authenticity built the foundation for a new vision of conservationConservation doctrine, and the Global Strategy for a balanced, representative and credible World HeritageWorld Heritage List enlarged the scope beyond historical, aesthetic and scientific values to take into account new perspectives. These three achievements are indicators of a paradigm shift in conservation theoryConservation theory and practice that subsequently unfolded in the twenty-first century. By this time, heritage conservationHeritage conservation practitioners were aware that they were operating in silos, and that heritage doctrine and practice needed to change. The most urgent issues that emerged concerned the construction of values, the implications of applying a cultural landscapesCultural landscapes approach to site management and the expanded reach of heritage.