Spatial Heritage Research Articles

Historical Changes, Contemporary Characteristics, and Five Transformations of Environmental Design in China

Starting from the characteristics of modernization in three different historical stages since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, this paper analyses the internal changes in the professional name, subordinate disciplines and categories, and professional mission of the environmental design profession, and summarizes the changes in the characteristics of the environmental design profession in 10 aspects such as subordinate disciplines, design objects, design types, cultural characteristics, and aesthetic values on the basis of the results of the analysis, and explores five transformations of the environmental design profession in the process of China’s development in the future. The five transformations in the future development of China are to serve the harmony and beauty of the three major urban and rural spaces with “small and micro-renewal and reconstruction”; to serve the transmission of Chinese culture and the spread of Chinese civilization with “spatial heritage and innovation”; to serve the balance and sufficiency of the four functions of urban and rural settlements with “friendliness and equilibrium”; to serve the intelligence, wisdom, and enjoyment of indoor and outdoor living environment space with “scientific and technological achievements”; and to serve the co-construction, co-management, and sharing of indoor and outdoor public space in urban and rural areas with “public participation.”

Favela Heritage Practices: Women Warriors’ Struggles for Political Memory and Social Justice in Rio de Janeiro

ABSTRACT This article discusses everyday spatial heritage practices in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. It focusses on the experiences of faveladas, Black and poor women residents of the favelas, as they build their houses and struggle for political memory in the city. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and photowalks conducted in 2011–2013 and 2018 with residents of the favelas of Pavão-Pavãozinho and Cantagalo (PPG), this article documents the insurgent heritage practices of ‘women warriors’ and analyses the ways in which these practices typify means of resistance to urban coloniality. I draw on theories by the Afro-Brazilian feminist scholars and activists Beatriz Nascimento on quilombos (maroon communities) and Lélia Gonzalez on ‘Amefricanity’, who recourse to black and indigenous women’s Southern Atlantic experiences of oppression and forced migration and of resistance, to suggest the notion of ‘Amefrican’ heritage practices. The women warriors’ spatial practices and resistance encompass curated favela heritage. They challenge prejudice against the favelas and Afro-Brazilians, thereby sustaining ‘Amefrican’ heritage practices and shaping Rio de Janeiro’s cultural heritage and future, especially against contemporary processes of urban coloniality.

Framing a counter-city: The story of Sheffield Otherwise

Urban planning and design have often been complicit in perpetuating the systems of oppression embedded in colonial, capitalist, hetero-patriarchal, and racist spatial structures. Amid the current civilizational crisis, how can we enable possibilities for emancipatory and counter-hegemonic planning (Friedmann, 1989) and design? In order for new possibilities to emerge, we need to unmake what we know and look for radical approaches and practices that allow us to understand our responsibility to create counter-cities that nurture radical hope. This article presents the project Sheffield Otherwise, an exploration using research-design practices to shape a counter-city. Through a learning alliance, we partner with two community organisations working with diasporic and queer communities to reveal and frame their legacies and stories as part of the living heritage of Sheffield. We use counter-archiving and counter-mapping methodologies to engage with these counterpublics that have been excluded from official narratives, urban policies, and public space representations. In doing so, this project challenges hegemonic narratives about stigma and questions hegemonic planning and design practices that often lack understanding of the spatial heritage of diverse communities. Based on this experience, we argue that Counter-City constitutes a radical approach to imagining spatial justice that requires crystallising counter-hegemonic planning and design practices with subaltern counterpublics using methods such as counter-archiving and counter-mapping.

Co-Designing Spaces for Public Service

Services of public interest concern the design of spaces and services in their most systemic and transformative conception, offering access to the essential functions of everyday life, and developing open solutions for a social collective understood as a ‘public’. Public services have been changing in recent years due to a digitalisation of services and tools. At the same time as there is a great deal of discussion on these issues, involving different opinions and continuous evolutions, the space as a container for these services is less subject to reflection and not considered for any evolution in design. Through the project of the requalification of the Salone Anagrafico of the Chamber of Commerce in Milan, or the Hall of the Future project, a research experiment is described, which highlights the importance of spatial heritage, and which can be replicated in other contexts, regardless of usage.

Komunikasi Spasial Situs Sejarah untuk Menguatkan Penjenamaan Kota sebagai Kota Pusaka

AbstractThis article was written in order to describe the preservation of cultural spatial assets in support of one of the pillars of the city of Bogor, which imagines the city as a Heritage City. Based on the results of research on the image of the city of Bogor as a place (place branding), the city tourism often offers historical heritage from various times. The Bogor City Government seems to see the superiority of this heritage as an asset to increase their own local income. The qualitative data of this study were obtained from a review of archives and policy documents, reinforced by quantitative data collected through questionnaires to the Bogor community regarding the spatial heritage assets in their city. The results showed that through the form of primary communication in the form of landscape strategies, infrastructure, and cultural behavior, people feel well the stimuli of their city which can image their city as a Heritage City. This is supported by the implementation of policies contained in the Regional Medium Term Development Plan which includes the revitalization of historical sites, strengthening of footpaths around the Bogor Botanical Gardens, and holding various events based on Indonesian national culture.Keywords: spatial communication, place naming, city naming, heritage city

Establishment and transformation of Santiago’s outskirts: Invisible social and spatial heritage of Chile’s capital city

As an intermediate urban space between downtown and the suburbs, the establishment of Santiago’s outskirts is marked by the gradual transformation of its urban fabric based on different proposals aimed at addressing the issue of massive housing needs throughout the 20th century. Starting from the densification of the traditional square to its inner openness and the subsequent final breakdown of its structure, to the rationalization of the urban pattern by projecting large residential extensions, this article deals with the morphological transformation of the outskirts in Chile’s capital city. The proposed goal is to ultimately prove that, beyond architecture, its urban fabric is currently a spatial and social heritage, both based on the setup of its pattern and on the history and lifestyles of its inhabitants, resulting from the struggle to access urban housing.

Urban Landscape and Spatial Heritage: The Case of Gateway-Pathways in Zagreb, Croatia

ABSTRACTThe paper examines theoretical and analytical premises for developing a systematic characterisation of spatial heritage in the urban landscape. Spatial heritage is proposed as alternative and active link between material and immaterial agencies in the formation of the cultural landscape over time. We probe the application of interdisciplinary research at the interface of spatial history, urban heritage, and space syntax studies to expand heritage definitions and understand the role of diachronic spatial elements in urban sustainability. With the use of space syntax analytical methods, we test quantitative descriptions of typological definition of ‘gateway-pathways’ in the urban landscape. The term refers to routes that historically connected peripheral settlements to the urban core of contemporary cities. The typology was developed during on-going research by the first author at the University of Zagreb as a part of Heritage Urbanism project with reference to a sample of 18 Central European cities that were formerly provincial capital cities of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. This paper looks at the city of Zagreb, Croatia and assesses its historic pathway typologies via syntactical analysis using the transect method established by Bill Hillier. Results give a quantitative validation of the spatial significance of some historical urban pathways over others.

Five-Foot Ways as an Embodiment of Public and Private Rights: The Origin, Survival and Preservation of Spatial Heritage in Singapore and Beyond

This paper explores the spread of the five-foot way (5FW) as an aspect of urban design peculiar to Southeast Asia. It locates the 5FW as an aspect of planning law and property law that has been adapted culturally, in spite of conflicts over appropriate use, to provide a unique space for public-private interaction.

Preserving and Promoting Ras Al Khaimah’s Cultural Heritage

Perhaps more than any other emirate, Ras Al Khaimah’s urban and rural environments convey the aura of authenticity sought by many visitors to the region. The emirate contains numerous sites of cultural and archaeological interest, many of which are underutilized and underdeveloped. Current efforts to revitalize these sites are in their planning stages and as the emirate grows as a tourist destination, it will have to balance the desire to attract tourists with the need to retain the authentic atmosphere that attracts visitors in the first place. This paper proposes a broader temporal and spatial heritage concept than is usually found in the Gulf, and emphasizes continuities between heritage and contemporary Ras Al Khaimah. The paper then makes recommendations for how Ras Al Khaimah, as well as specific sites, can be made more accessible to visitors interested in the emirate’s history and culture.

The use of former British military bases during and after the 1948 war

Mandatory Palestine’s military landscape was shaped during World War II in accordance with British imperial interests. After the 1948 Arab‒Israeli war, military spatial patterns and landscapes were transformed to conform to Israel’s national interests and needs. This article deals with the transformation of the British military spatial heritage following the takeover of former British bases by the Israeli armed forces and civil institutions and its impact on the organisation and building of both the Israeli military system and the spatial, social and cultural structures of the evolving Israeli society during the 1950s.

Understanding the transformation of the Polish footwear industry through firm’s strategies, trade geography and spatial heritage

Abstract:The article investigates the current condition of the Polish footwear industry and its relationships with the European counterpart. Through the prism of context rooted in history, legal framework, post-socialist transformation, reorientation to export, European integration and other factors, it delivers a justification for the current state of the industry and firm strategies. The analysis encompasses main macroeconomic indicators of the industry and the sector, changes in the structure of production, external relations (primarily export) and basic data on employment. Conclusions from the analysis of data are backed by information acquired from in depth interviews conducted in 2013 and 2014 in two traditional footwear industry regions. This sector of industry was characterized by dynamic growth of production in the post war socialist period, decline following 1989, small scale inflow of foreign investment and reorientation of external relations.

URBAN SPRAWL AND SUSTAINABLE CITY DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Urban environmental problems are of different dimensions and are mostly due to geologic, climatic and cultural factors. However, the cultural factors seems to be more pronounced in the Nigerian context because most of the identified urban environmental issues are so much associated with the way of life of the people, either as reactions to urbanization or their spatial heritage. Their effects are far reaching on efforts to attain sustainable development in the country. Since no section of the country’s urban environment is immune to environmental effects, there is urgent need to seek workable solutions by the application of planning, economic, legal, institutional and educational tools as have been suggested here.

Improvement strategy of open space at the center of a traditional lowland town with narrow paths for securing persons in need of aids viewing from evacuation time

This paper aims to discuss improvement strategy of an existing open space at the center of a traditional lowland town, in which local spatial heritage including narrow paths should be preserved. We calculated evacuation times not only of normal persons but also of persons in need of aids on the assumption of street blockades in narrow paths might occur by disaster such as large earthquake also with big fire. In the study area, we thought that the weedy vacant space at the center worked as an efficient evacuation route for residents. Yet, the calculation results showed that the evacuation time of person in need of hard aids was more than we expected in the case of street blockades, although the others could. It means that it is useful to maintain the vacant space at the center in the town in order to secure evacuation without damage of the traditional meanings of the area in lowland, but that the other measurements are also necessary especially for person in need of hard aids.

Politics, Process, Culture and Human Folly: Life among Arizonans and the Reality of a Transborder World

In this article we explain the development of anti-Mexican nationalist ideology among Arizona's legislative body and the development of counterpoints of action and resistance and the role the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University is playing locally, regionally, nationally, and transnationally in countering this ideology. It considers that such measures as Arizona SB 1070 law passed by the Arizona legislature in 2010 has historical antecedents early in the development of the Arizona territory in the 19th century. Once Mexican-origin populations became demographically and politically subordinated in the region at that time, numerous measures ensued, which attempted to subordinate much of the cultural, linguistic, and spatial heritage of the population since then. However, in spite of these processes that Mexican-origin populations simultaneously created and became a part of, countervailing linguistic, cultural, and public developments and innovations emerged. Issues of culture, language, and demography that arose by the 1980s provided new impetus leading to new versions of the old political and social histories. We discuss changing political demography resulting from the population increases of Mexican-origin populations in Arizona and fear of political power shifts from non-Mexicans as possibly a factor in the emergence of the most recent versions of anti-Mexican political behavior. We also discuss fresh winds of change in opposition to these developments that emanate from religious, secular, and educational institutions and seem to favor more rationale approaches to resolving issues of legality, migration, and culture. These developments create new cultural and social spaces to address the region's social and political problems.

Evaluation model for cultural heritage in spatial planning

The article describes the evaluation model for cultural heritage in spatial planning, created in the shifting perspective from a static-contemplative to a dynamic-planning understanding of the heritage. The shift is manifested in the creation of the model which allows analysis, diagnosis, definition of strategies for spatial heritage (registered and under the consideration for protection) and its evaluation and monitoring (besides the basic evaluation of the heritage characteristics). It also allows for creation and evaluation of development and management scenarios through identification and comparison of different strategic options. The article illustrates the methodology and construction of the model based on multi-criteria and heritage evaluation models and an application on a case study on the archaeological and hydro-archaeological Roman and Palaeo-christian site Fulfinum-Mirine in Croatia.

A Methodological Framework Based on the Dynamic-Evolutionary View of Heritage

The paper describes the shifting perspective from the contemplative view to the dynamic-evolutionary view of heritage and the main characteristics of the resulting multi-criterial decision-aid tool for the evaluation of heritage. With the integration of conservation in planning processes and with opening of the procedures to public participation, there is a need for decision-aid tools that can help increase rationality and transparency in decision-making processes related to planning. By understanding the contemporary view of heritage and the landscape, it is possible to create tools capable of accounting for spatial complexity and the extant cultural, social, historic and economic relations. With this in mind, a specific tool was created that can be used for the analysis, diagnosis, evaluation and monitoring of spatial heritage (registered and under consideration for protection), identifying opportunities, defining strategies for heritage management processes, and in the creation and evaluation of development and management scenarios. The paper illustrates a shift in the consideration of heritage in spatial planning and presents an application of the developed model in a case study.

Vivienda y Emergencia ante desastres naturales producidos por Sismos. Sismo de 1997 en la comuna de Punitaqui, Chile

This paper deals with the formulation of a housing reconstruction program and the execution of a specific program in EL Toro, Punitaqui IV region, Coquimbo, after the 1997 earthquake. The aim was to motivate a reconstruction process and habitat conditioning. A socio habitat innovative experience was developed in the form of a surroundings microproject with the participation of 16 poor families which had property rights over the land and a basic sanitary unit. The challenge was simply to implement a participatory work methodology, taking into account in the design as well as in the planning stage cultural aspects, labour needs , support to productive activities and the morphological and spatial heritage of the agricultural communities. Consequently a self help program was proposed aiming at satisfying integral inhabiting needs, overcoming the material deficit in housing, increasing life quality through several degrees of family life adaptability to the physic-spatial habitat.

Programa de Reconstrucción en la Comuna de Punitaqui Localidad de El Toro.

This paper deals with the formulation of a housing reconstruction program and the execution of a specific program in EL Toro, Punitaqui IV region, Coquimbo, after the 1997 earthquake. The aim was to motivate a reconstruction process and habitat conditioning. A socio habitat innovative experience was developed in the form of a surroundings microproject with the participation of 16 poor families which had property rights over the land and a basic sanitary unit. The challenge was simply to implement a participatory work methodology, taking into account in the design as well as in the planning stage cultural aspects, labour needs , support to productive activities and the morphological and spatial heritage of the agricultural communities. Consequently a self help program was proposed aiming at satisfying integral inhabiting needs, overcoming the material deficit in housing, increasing life quality through several degrees of family life adaptability to the physic-spatial habitat.