Cultural heritage in socio-economic development: local and global perspectives.

This paper has provided a commentary on the evolving culture-and-development discourse, where development is re-defined both globally and locally, aiming at a better reflection of the specificity of places, societies and cultures. Worldwide examples have illustrated the current trend toward a holistic, interrelated perspective on cultural heritage, which is seen as socially constructed and more dynamic and functional. Cultural heritage becomes both an element and a tool for socio-economic development. The discussion indicates that heritage conservation is becoming recognized as an inherent dimension of development in both 'developed' and 'developing' countries. As a counterpoint to the obsolete practice of heritage conservation--viewed as a "marginalized add-on ... elitist, romantic and reactionary" that is predestined to be "in conflict rather than in accord with our times"--the integration and transformation of cultural heritage as a "leading partner [and] a driving force" in development is advised (Rodwell 2003: 62, 68). Such a holistic approach to heritage and development links sustainability and conservation as two complementary processes that aim to achieve wise use of resources, continuity of supply and a minimum of intervention in the fabric of cultural identity--including its physical, social, economic and artistic aspects. Integration is seen as a way of "advancing constructive evolution as opposed to destructive revolution" (Rodwell 2003: 60).

It is critical to remember that "the economic benefits of cultural heritage evaporate if the social, aesthetic, and other values of cultural heritage are not respected and are lost" (Agnew 1999: 11). The attention and debates among theorists and practitioners should be engaged not so much with the question of if, but rather with the question of how cultural heritage and development can be successfully integrated in a sustainable manner. In this direction, despite the wide policy-related developments, it appears that no attempts have been made to systematically study the integration of both. Altogether, cultural heritage within development remains a vastly unexplored theme in both theoretical and practical terms. Although it tends to look like a solid, trustworthy and multipurpose formula for both heritage and development, it lacks--to a large extent--the clarity and specificity that is required for it to become a working formula as well. A step in this direction might be the re-examination of the heritage-development framework on the basis of multidisciplinary research that takes a holistic view and systematically studies their relationship. This is certainly a direction worth exploring further in future research.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers and Beth Dempster for their valuable comments and suggestions.

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