What is worth conserving in the urban environment? Temporal shifts in cultural attitudes towards the built heritage in Ireland

Abstract

Buildings and built structures can be seen as physical assemblages of materials such as bricks, mortar, concrete, glass, etc. However, they can also be endowed with meaning and value, something which changes over time. This value can be endowed with, for example, architectural, historical, economic, tourist, social and cultural meaning. This paper is concerned with conservation of the built heritage in an Irish urban context, with particular reference to Dublin City, and explores cultural value judgements on what is worth conserving in the urban environment and how this has changed over time. Such value judgements have been traced, for example, in the types of structure that have been afforded legal protection status by the State or local authorities. This question is explored in the context of cultural geography's approach to understanding the significance of people's values and ideas in shaping the built environment.