When Loss is More: From Managed Decline to Adaptive Release

Caitlin Desilvey,Harald Fredheim,Hannah Fluck,Rosemary Hails,Rodney Harrison,Ingrid Samuel,Amber Blundell

doi:10.1080/17567505.2021.1957263

Abstract

ABSTRACT Within the heritage sector there is widespread recognition that the accelerating effects of climate and other changes will necessitate reconsideration of the care of at-risk places and properties. Heritage organisations and agencies are developing new ways to identify and measure future threats, and to prioritise resources accordingly. For some designated assets, it is becoming clear, it may be necessary to manage processes of decline and transformation. Drawing on insights gathered from conversations with natural and historic environment practitioners and regulators, this paper highlights current practice and policy around managed decline, with a focus on the English context. In seeking to address some of the limitations of current approaches, this paper introduces a new conceptual framework: adaptive release. Adaptive release, as presented here, reflects a decision to accommodate the dynamic transformation of a heritage asset and its associated values and significance, with reference to wider landscape settings. The focus is on iterative management over extended timeframes, involving some relinquishment of control and a commitment to ongoing monitoring and interpretation. The concept of adaptive release is presented provisionally, rather than prescriptively, to expand the range of options available to natural and historic environment professionals in responding to inevitable change.

Highlights

In 2008 English Heritage’s Conservation Principles set out a definition of conservation as ‘the process of managing change to a significant place in its setting in ways that will best sustain its heritage values, while recognising opportunities to reveal or reinforce those values for present and future generations.’1 The document’s framing of conservation as change management recognised that alterations to the physical fabric of features in the historic environment would sometimes be necessary, and even desirable, in order to sustain value, stating: ‘Change to a significant place is inevitable, if only as a result of the passage of time, but can be neutral or beneficial in its effect on heritage values.’2 Conservation Principles was published in the context of proposals for major reform to
Heritage protection in England, which aimed to simplify the system of statutory protec tions and encourage a more holistic, landscape-based approach to conservation of the historic environment
Heritage organisations and agencies will need to face these challenges in the way they manage properties and allocate resources, and are currently developing new ways to understand and identify future threats in order to help them plan and make evidenced decisions consistently and transparently

Summary

Introduction

In 2008 English Heritage’s Conservation Principles set out a definition of conservation as ‘the process of managing change to a significant place in its setting in ways that will best sustain its heritage values, while recognising opportunities to reveal or reinforce those values for present and future generations.’1 The document’s framing of conservation as change management recognised that alterations to the physical fabric of features in the historic environment would sometimes be necessary, and even desirable, in order to sustain value, stating: ‘Change to a significant place is inevitable, if only as a result of the passage of time, but can be neutral or beneficial in its effect on heritage values.’2 Conservation Principles was published in the context of proposals for major reform to.

Results

Conclusion