Moving Beyond a Values-Based Approach to Heritage Conservation

Abstract

A values-based approach is the current most preferred approach to heritage conservation, adopted, and advocated by major conservation authorities, both at national level (e.g., USA, Canada, Australia, and UK) and at international level (e.g., UNESCO World Heritage Centre), and by major research and educational institutions (e.g., Getty Conservation Institute). This paper argues that a values-based approach cannot apply to all types of heritage sites. There is a specific type of sites, called 'living heritage sites', that cannot be embraced within this approach, and thus require a different conservation approach.The paper starts by setting a framework for the discussion by presenting the basic concepts of heritage conservation. Emphasis is on the concept of discontinuity. A review of values-based approaches, exploring their weaknesses, is followed by a description of the basic characteristics, and practices of maintenance, of 'living heritage sites'. Here the emphasis is on the concept of continuity. The paper then attempts to demonstrate why living heritage sites, as well as maintenance practices, cannot be embraced within a values-based approach, and presents a new approach for the operation and management of these sites: a living heritage approach. The last part of the paper compares a value-based approach and a living heritage approach, focusing on the different ways in which the two approaches look at authenticity.The paper aims at moving beyond a values-based approach towards a new international approach in conservation: a living heritage approach.