Understanding local community and the cultural heritage values at a World Heritage City: a grounded theory approach

Abstract

The nomination of a World Heritage site generally focuses on the tangible heritage assets, and intangible heritage is given less attention in the site management. There is also a lack of awareness of the complicated relationship between tangible and intangible heritage assets, the meanings and values of the site to its local community, and the complexity of space in the World Heritage Site in the management of cultural heritage sites. This paper discusses grounded theory to investigate the relationship between local communities and their cultural heritage in George Town World Heritage Site, Malaysia. The methodology employed an ethnographic approach for the observational work and semi-structured interviews. The findings demonstrate a deep and rich knowledge of the links between the World Heritage designation and its local communities, including how local people interact and contribute meaning to the site. This study may encourage other researchers to apply grounded theory to understand social phenomena on other World Heritage Sites of similar context for heritage management purposes.