Abstract
In an era of holistic and integrative thinking, the potential of
culture and heritage as both elements and tools for socio-economic
development has been gaining the attention and imagination of scholars
and policy makers alike. This article provides some idea of the
contemporary culture-and-development discourse, followed by an overview
of heritage-centered development trends and practices across a wide
geographical span. Examples primarily focus on tangible heritage and
illustrate a shift toward the inclusion of cultural heritage as a
central feature of community and economic revitalization. Reference is
made to parallel trends that can be observed in England, Canada,
Australia, and Japan, as well as in developing countries--although the
former examples are given more attention. The aim is to show the
omnipresence of the expanding social context and the relevance of
cultural heritage. The discussion illustrates its significant potential
and the emerging global/local policy thread that advocates for
integrating culture within development strategies.
En cette ere de reflexion holistique et integrative, l'idee
que la culture et le patrimoine peuvent constituer des elements du
developpement economique et servir celui ci attire l'attention et
frappe l'imagination des universitaires, comme celle des
responsables des politiques. L'auteur de cet article presente
quelques unes des idees du discours sur la <>, suivies d'un apercu des tendances et des
pratiques en matiere de developpement axe sur le patrimoine, sur une
vaste etendue geographique. Les exemples utilises mettent l'accent
sur le patrimoine materiel comme element central de la dynamisation de
la collectivite et de l'economie. On y fait reference aux tendances
que l'on peut observer parallelement en Angleterre, au Canada, en
Australie, au Japon, ainsi que dans les pays en developpement, quoique
l'on accorde davantage d'attention aux premiers.
L'objectif est de demontrer l'omnipresence de
l'elargissement du contexte social et la pertinence du patrimoine
culturel. L'analyse illustre le potentiel important de la culture
et le fil conducteur emergent des politiques mondiales ou locales,
lequel prone l'integration de la culture aux strategies de
developpement.
Keywords
Tangible heritage, socio-economic perspectives, culture and
development, heritage policy and practice
Introduction
Recent changes in the global environment and within human society
have occurred at a speed faster than ever before. These changes prove
much more difficult to control and manage, carrying the potential risk
of irreversibility and endangering the integrity of the
human-environment system. Along with unprecedented advances in science
and technology--which bring a series of seemingly indisputable
benefits--the world in the 21st century has seen massive environmental
degradation, depletion of resources, widening gaps in people's
quality of life, lasting regional conflicts and wars, increasing
poverty, cultural homogenization and individual feelings of alienation
and rootlessness.
Arising from these changes, the very idea of what development does
or should mean has also rapidly evolved. Development is no longer
equated solely with the endless pursuit of material and economic goals;
it is increasingly perceived as a never-ending process of change towards
a continuous improvement of the human condition (Rana 2000). The
objective of human development has been reinterpreted to include
expanding the capabilities of people to live the sorts of lives they
desire (Sen 1999). It has become necessary for economic
development--together with environmental, social and cultural
development--to be regarded as part of a bigger whole: sustainable human
development (UNDP 1994).
As an example, Throsby (2001) argues that there are clear signs of
a shift underway in thinking about development. The old
commodity-centered notion of economic development is giving way to a new
people-centered strategy of human development, where people--as the
object and means of development--do not exist in isolation. In addition,
the shift is associated with a refocusing on human beings as both the
object of development and as the agents by which development is brought
about.
People interact with each other and with their surroundings in a
variety of ways. The framework within which this interaction occurs is
provided by their culture--their shared beliefs, values, languages,
traditions, and so on, that constitute their daily lives. By extension,
culture has appeared center-stage, as the focus of the new development
concept. The intent of this paper is to illustrate and discuss the
integration of culture and development--an integration that is expected
to bring a variety of benefits and comparative advantages to countries
and regions. For illustration, I draw on examples from around the world,
focusing on built heritage. I primarily discuss examples from urban
areas in developed countries; however, culture and development are also
strongly integrated in rural areas and developing countries. I provide a
few such examples to further illustrate the extent of this shift and the
potentials that are offered by this new direction. To begin, I offer
some background on this new integrated approach and the parallel changes
in the conceptualization of cultural heritage.
Culture and Development
Culture has recently moved to centre stage as an important aspect
of development--although it must be said that culture had already
entered the stage in policy-making in the 1960-70s, the "age of
decolonization." At a conference in Venice around that time, Rene
Maheu, Director-General of UNESCO turned to the audience with the words:
The idea of development has, in fact, gradually become broader,
deeper, and more varied so that going beyond the purely economic
aspects of improving man's lot, it now also embraces the so-called
social aspects ... Man is the means and the end of development; he
is not the one-dimensional abstraction of homo economicus, but a
living reality, a human person, in the infinite variety of his
needs, his potentialities and his aspirations ... In the concept of
development the centre of gravity has thus shifted from the economic
to the social, and we have reached a point where this shift begins
to approach the cultural (Maheu quoted in UNESCO 1999).
The current debate about the role of culture in development has
intensified on all levels. Culture has reached its peak on the agendas
not only of UNESCO but of many international organizations working in
the development field. Culture Counts (World Bank 1999a), The Power of
Culture (UNESCO 1998), Recognizing Culture (Matarasso 2001 for UNESCO
and World Bank), Culture in Sustainable Development (World Bank/UNESCO
1998), Culture and Local Development (OECD 2005) are only some of the
titles in their key documents. Certainly, the emphasis on a possible
symbiosis between culture and development has far-reaching implications
and presents one of the greatest challenges to rethinking the
development paradigm.
Development today is ever more identified as specific to culture
and context. As Hettne (2002) maintains, the significance of culture and
identity has to do not so much with integrating the cultural factor in
the process of development as with abandoning Eurocentric development
thinking. Rather than "development as catching up and
imitation," there is a shift to "conceiving and
conceptualizing development as an inclusive, liberating process, in
which different worldviews are accommodated and constitute a dialogical
process" (Hettne 2002: 7). The picture of culture and development
and their multiple interactions becomes particularly difficult to grasp
and deal with in the age of globalization. Globalization and culture
interact in various ways, in the better case, producing multiple-choice
situations. Undeniably, globalization threatens to homogenize culture,
but at the same time it gives opportunities to express and emphasize
cultural diversity. To illustrate, I give an example of the so-called
global localization or glocalization phenomenon. An initiative of the
Economic Institute of Development of the World Bank and several
non-government organizations (NGOs) led to the creation of a virtual
bazaar in 1997: . Although started as an
experiment to demonstrate the possibilities presented by the Internet
for a poor isolated village and its people, the project has turned into
a permanent virtual space enabling producers from Morocco, Tunisia and
Lebanon to present their countries' crafts and access international
markets. Participants not only receive encouragement to further develop
their traditional industries but also achieve far better economic
rewards for doing so. Obviously, their success on the global market can
be attributed to offering unique products typical of their specific
local cultures (SDC 2003).
Curiously, the role of culture in the economy of cities, countries
and regions is not only greatly expanding in countries lagging behind in
their economic development. On the contrary, the tendency proves far
more typical of industrialized countries. For example, in 2000, the
Government of Denmark released a report entitled Denmark's Creative
Potential, suggesting that a closer interaction and even convergence
between culture and industry should take place because of its potential
to "trigger a new social dynamic, which will, at one and the same
time, strengthen culture and the arts, offering new opportunities for
development, and add impetus to industrial development marked by
innovation, creativity and resourcefulness" (Government of Denmark
2000: 4). A similar approach is taken locally by many big and small
cities, towns and villages all over the world. Kim (2001: 1) calls it
the "cultural turn of capitalism" and observes that in the
global-local context, culture can be both a resistant and a resilient
force. More broadly, culture is currently perceived not only as
facilitator of the economy, but also of individual well-being and the
collective well-being of society as a whole; it is identified both as an
essential social capital and as a builder of such.
The foregoing tendencies in the culture-development discourse have
significantly contributed to a shift in the concept of cultural
heritage. They serve as a background for the following discussion, which
extends the heritage concept to the framework of economic and social
development.
New perceptions of cultural heritage in development
Cultural heritage includes the material aspects of culture--sites,
buildings, landscapes, monuments, and objects--as well as the
non-material aspects, which are embodied in social practices, community
life, values, beliefs and expressive forms such as language, arts,
handicrafts, music and dance. Representative of many contemporary
definitions, Graham et al. (2000: 2, 157) define cultural heritage as
"the contemporary purposes of the past" or "that part of
the past which we select in the present for contemporary purposes, be
they economic, cultural, political or social." The concept of
heritage is evolving as a result of and according to the changing
attitudes, needs and demands people convey towards it. There is a clear
move toward a people-centered, functional approach in regards to
heritage, simultaneously shifting its focus along three interrelated
axes: from monuments to people, from objects to functions and
consequently from preservation to sustainable use and development
(Loulanski 2006). Heritage has ceased being just about objects--with its
main duty as physical preservation--and has become associated with
"whatever fulfils the function of cultural heritage" (Muller
1998: 399).
Most importantly, heritage has stopped being divorced from its
societal context and is increasingly perceived as a human construction,
made by people and defined by them. A movement toward wider definitions,
roles and uses of cultural heritage in society is thus observed. From
separate objects--architecture, archeology and movables--heritage has
expanded to landscapes, urban and rural areas, the whole historic
environment and place. The roles of heritage, seen before in the narrow
meaning of symbols of national unity and pride, have expanded to include
much broader phenomena, contributing to political ideals, economic
prosperity, social cohesion and cultural diversity (Clark 2000). Indeed,
heritage assets are increasingly being used in their capacity as
resources for a wide variety of modern purposes.
There are critics who consider use to be among the biggest threats
to heritage, potentially leading to commercialization, exploitation,
devaluation and destruction. There are others, like Netzer (1997: 4),
who contend that "the greatest successes in heritage preservation
can occur when the heritage element is in actual use, and thus capable
of generating revenue to pay for its preservation" or Koboldt
(1997: 56) who argue that "many if not most of the benefits
[derived from cultural heritage] are realized only in the course of
[its] actual use." Among the proponents of heritage use we find not
only economists and sociologists but also those who have traditionally
opposed the idea, such as culturalists, anthropologists, legal
scientists and even preservationists. For instance Prott (2005) points
to the need of preserving, together with objects, the multiple human
lifestyles through the "continued re-endorsement of value by
use" within communities. She warns that the practices of
preservation that are typically used often lead to de-contextualization
and damage of heritage. She argues for a more adequate interpretation
and protection of heritage, based on prioritizing the traditional values
of people for whom it holds special social and cultural meanings (Prott
2005: 231, 236).
In a similar vein, Jokilehto (2004) calls for integrated heritage
management, emphasizing that every historic area and its surroundings
should be considered in its totality as a coherent whole whose balance
and specific nature depend on the fusion of the parts, which include
human activities as much as the buildings, spatial organization and
surroundings. Thus, the very notion of conservation has drastically
changed from preservation to sustainable use and management of change in
both the cultural and natural environment. Present practices reveal that
the preservation of heritage cannot be seen as a process that attempts
to stop development and change by freezing culture and heritage. Rather
heritage preservation is identified with the practice of managing change
as a factor driving the balance between preserving heritage values and
ensuring development (Jamieson 2000). This new thinking has led towards
shifting the emphasis in conservation from "the conservation of
discrete monuments in isolation to the sustainable management of towns,
cities and landscapes as a whole" (Clark and Drury 2000: 114).
More specifically, in a new developmental context, heritage is
recognized as both engine and catalyst of socio-economic development.
Graham et al. (2000) have suggested a theoretical framework, based on
three main economic dimensions of heritage to explain its developmental
role. First, they identify heritage as "an economic sector in
itself"--often referred to as "the heritage
industry"--"using resources, producing products, and
generating returns in profits, [incomes] and jobs." Second, it is
also considered "one element in economic development alongside
others, frequently exercising a catalytic or integrating role in
development projects" due to its capacity to attract economic
activities and accommodate economic functions. Finally, it is looked
upon as "an instrument in the management of economies at various
spatial scales from the international to the local, as for example in
the creation and promotion of place images for dominant economic
purposes (Graham et al. 2000: 155). Most recently, the economic
rationale of heritage was thoroughly discussed in Mason's (2005)
Brookings Institution Report Economics and Historic Preservation--A
Guide and Review of the Literature with an extensive and annotated
bibliography of both academic and professional literature that reviews
the current findings on the value of historic preservation and the
methods used to assess that value. A case is made for improving
expertise in the field of preservation economics that would allow for
more objectively and rigorously quantifying the effects of historic
preservation.
Not only in the academic literature, but in policy documents of
international organizations and national and regional governments,
heritage is repeatedly identified as a powerful economic and social
resource, a "development asset" that can be used to
"catalyze local-level development," provide employment,
generate income, revitalize local urban and rural areas, enhance
environmental protection and strengthen communities' social capital
(World Bank 1998: 15). Although heritage and its preservation have long
been regarded as oppositional to economic development (it is either
historic preservation or economic growth), they are increasingly seen as
effective partners in development. Their partnering is consistent with
all five principles of 21st century socio-economic
development--globalization, localization, diversity, sustainability,
responsibility--and reinforces the five senses of quality
communities--sense of place, sense of identity, sense of evolution,
sense of ownership or share, and sense of community (Rypkema 1999).
Indeed, cultural heritage has stopped being only a burden to national
budgets, and is gradually transforming into a significant
"value-adding industry" (Cernea 2001: 45). Anticipations show
that investments in heritage are going to grow even further with
heritage becoming "the most significant product of the 21st
century, determining communities' future" (Ogino 2002: 277).
Another important current trend is detected in the newly ascribed
links between cultural heritage and sustainable human development that
are rooted in the reunion of conservation and development goals and the
balance between economic, social and environmental aspects of
development (Clark 2000). Looked upon through the magnifying lens of
sustainable development and its principles, cultural heritage--with its
important "contemporaneity value" (Greffe 2002: 163) and its
unique integrative functional and "socially progressive
potential" (Pendlebury et al. 2004: 11)--comes out as a dual force:
as an integral part and as a vehicle towards sustainable development.
Furthermore, being compatible with the long-term perspectives of
sustainable development, heritage can be recognized as an essential
cultural, social, economic and environmental asset contributing to the
sustainable functioning of the three interrelated systems: nature,
society and economy (Loulanski 2007).
In the light of the foregoing arguments, it is logical to maintain
that cultural heritage not only could, but should, be integrated in the
real life of people and that policy needs to be rethought to be more
accepting of the practical dimensions of heritage. In that sense, I
believe that the sensitive integration of cultural heritage within
development strategies and initiatives aimed at simultaneously
addressing interconnected economic, environmental, social and community
objectives and challenges could be a good way to provide diverse and
wise use of heritage, as well as encourage realization of its
significant multi-functional potential.
Heritage-centered development trends
In what follows, I provide examples of the integration of cultural
heritage in socio-economic development by referring to evidence from
policies and practices internationally. Examples include urban and
rural, local and national settings, from both industrialized and
developing countries. The foregoing discussion drew attention to the
significance of material and non-material aspects of culture. To be
brief and comprehensible, the following discussion is constrained to
tangible heritage.
England
Heritage has been getting higher on the public agenda in recent
decades and significant changes in thinking with regard to heritage have
occurred, especially in reconsidering heritage's role in economic
and social life. Consider recent work in England: Comprehensive reports
aiming to inform policy and its implementation have recently emerged,
illustrating the increasing interest and awareness in the subject of
culture. The Power of Place--The Future of the Historic Environment
(English Heritage 2000a) set out a new government agenda for the future
of cultural heritage in England. Its key message is to identify the
historic environment as an important asset contributing to people's
quality of life. Recently, efforts have been focused on collecting
information and investigating the value of the historic environment to
the economy. Products of this work include reports published by English
Heritage (the governmental executive agency responsible for heritage):
The Heritage Dividend (2000b), as well as the annually updated The State
of the Historic Environment (2002). A whole section in the latter is
devoted to the economic dimension of heritage, discussing its various
contributions to sustainable development, environmental regeneration,
tourism development, employment generation, etc.
An analogous endeavour is the review, Measuring the Economic and
Social Impact of the Arts (Reeves 2002), published by the Arts Council
of England. Other significant contributions to the government-led
initiatives are the comprehensive report of the Office of the Deputy
Prime Minister Select Committee entitled The Role of Historic Buildings
in Urban Regeneration (2004) and The Contribution of Culture to
Regeneration in the UK: A Review of Evidence (Evans and Shaw 2004). The
former views the historic built environment as a core element of
regeneration schemes in both urban and rural settings, since it gives a
character, quality and spirit to an area, containing the
'deep-seated associations' of the local population. It argues
that the built environment can act as a catalyst of the regeneration of
places, boost the local economy and create jobs, reinforce local
cultures, instill a greater sense of pride and confidence, and, last but
not least, contribute to a better use of natural resources. A call is
made for a creative, intelligent and sensitive incorporation of the old
and the new, balancing both historic and modern. The latter report views
culture as a driver, a catalyst or at least a key player in the process
of regeneration, providing ample evidence for the impact of culture on
social, economic and environmental regeneration in the UK. The
government accordingly responded with the consultation paper, Culture at
the Heart of Regeneration (DCMS 2004), recognizing the key role of
culture as a driving force in regeneration and the need for
'organic development', born from local needs, in opposition to
the traditionally dominant top-down development plans and strategies.
In this direction, the newest joint-project is Heritage Works
(English Heritage 2006). Said to be the first publication of its kind,
it combines the expertise of leading bodies into a new practical guide
for developers, owners, practitioners or community groups for creating
successful heritage-led regeneration projects. Including links to more
than 30 other information sources, it is designed to be a one-stop
reference document, a checklist for regeneration in the historic
environment. It recognizes built heritage as an asset possessing
multiple layers of value (social, cultural, economic, aesthetic,
historic, etc.) and the ability to become the focus of regeneration
projects. Furthermore, heritage is considered important for assuring
sustainability, since its proper re-use and adaptation can significantly
reduce the amount of energy consumed and waste generated during
demolitions and new developments. The main challenges are seen as
finding viable solutions based on partnership, shared vision,
flexibility and innovation, and making heritage really work for its
multiple stakeholders: owners, occupiers, landscapes, community and the
environment at large. One critical consideration for the success of such
heritage-centered projects is finding appropriate beneficial economic
uses for the assets; uses that could support the initial refurbishment,
provide the owner or developer with a reasonable return on their
investment and generate enough income for the long-term maintenance of
the building.
Canada
In Canada, Simon Brault, the vice-chair of the Canada Council of
the Arts, in a recently released article entitled The Arts and Culture
as New Engines of Economic and Social Development estimates the
contribution of cultural industries in Canada to be $26 billion (Cdn).
He points to arts and culture as "incredible vectors of creativity,
the principal driver of economic and social growth." He argues for
a new cultural approach that could unlock the potential of culture,
expanding its reach and allowing imaginative and promising links between
education and culture, between health and culture, between citizenship
and culture, and between economic development and culture (Brault 2005:
56).
Another report, released in 2006 and titled The Lazarus Effect
(Shipley et al. 2006), explores the economics of heritage development in
Ontario. It identifies the presence of a healthy and growing business in
heritage development, providing evidence that preservation of built
heritage can be economically competitive. The calculations, based on a
sample of 23 projects, reveal that heritage development projects prove
slightly more expensive than new developments but are usually rewarding
developers with a higher rate of return on investment. However, lack of
awareness of the heritage potential is still widespread on many levels:
within communities, municipalities, planning authorities and political
circles. The report re-emphasizes that heritage considerations are not
attempts to freeze urban change but only to direct it in constructive
and rational ways. It advises municipalities to adopt coherent policies
that promote building reuse as an integral part of their smart growth
strategies and to seek closer cooperation with heritage-minded and
creative developers.
Australia
Along similar lines, the Sustainability Strategy of Western
Australia reads:
Heritage conservation does not stand in isolation, but is
Inseparably linked with economic development, tourism, urban
'liveability', reduction of waste, and the social cohesion of
communities. It is a major asset in promoting goals in these related
areas, and it helps provide the 'glue' that holds them together.
(Government of Western Australia 2003: 211).
The strategy outlines various social and economic benefits of
heritage conservation: better understanding of society and its
development; enhanced continuity, familiarity and beauty of the local
environment; attracting people and investments; improving urban amenity
and livability; tourism development; proportionate growth of jobs;
better local expenditure-retention in regional areas; and economic
diversification, cost and energy efficiency in building practices.
Japan
In Japan, there are also examples where heritage conservation and
urban redevelopment have been successfully integrated, especially in
middle and smallsized Japanese towns. Kakiuchi (2000) illustrates the
trend, referring to the case of Nagahama, located in Shiga Prefecture.
This small town of 50,000 inhabitants was built as early as the 16th
century, but like other towns during the 1980s, it stagnated and went
into economic decline. In 1988, a public-private co-operation project
was initiated to reverse the decline by rehabilitating cultural heritage
and encouraging a particular cultural industry. The preservation of a
building from the Meiji era (1868-1912), originally constructed as the
Kurokabe bank and scheduled for demolition in 1987, triggered an
ambitious project. The town council together with private companies set
up a new kind of third-sector enterprise--Kurokabe Inc.--as a joint
venture with capital of 40 million yen from the city government and 90
million yen from eight regional companies. Its goal was to encourage
economic activity in businesses other than pre-existing industries and
further promote the image of Nagahama city. Both traditional and modern
crafts of glassware were used as the basis of the town's
development strategy. Old houses in the vicinity were renovated and
became shops, restaurants and galleries. At present, the town's
central square comprises around thirty buildings, mostly converted from
old structures such as warehouses, merchant houses and so on.
The project turned into a catalyst for further cultural development
of the town, attracting more people involved in pre-existing performing
arts and events. It also became a base for further public-private
cooperation projects, capital investment projects and new developments.
What is more, the initiative spun off a centre for regional regeneration
in 1998, which now operates independently. This centre functions as a
bridge between local government, shops and citizens, providing
information and coordinating services for various events. Overall, the
project has been recognized as a telling example of the way in which
cultural heritage restoration and reuse can be combined with a specific
cultural industry to promote urban regeneration and revitalization
(Kakiuchi 2000).
The urban regeneration efforts in Nagahama have been underway for
over 15 years. By 1998--only a decade from its beginning--annual sales
were estimated at almost 900 million yen and visitors were numbered at
1.8 million per year, indicating that a balanced expansion of an
important cultural industry was obtained. Local public opinion is quite
positive. The public appreciates Kurokabe's upgraded regional image
and cultural standards, the creation of new tourist venues, the
protection of the historic landscape and the contribution to the local
economy. Kurokabe square has turned into a lively area, welcoming more
than 2 million visitors annually, half of whom are return visitors.
However problems still remain: Depopulation of the city centre
continues, and less than 10% of the two million visitors to Kurokabe
actually stay overnight in the city (Kakiuchi 2003).
Analogous cases include Kanazawa, a city praised for its endogenous
development characterized by a balance of environment, culture and
economy, and Otaru, once a business capital and fishing port of the
northern Japanese island Hokkaido, which now relies to a large extent on
its unique natural landscape, history and rich cultural heritage,
combining restoration and adaptive reuse with the development of
traditional crafts and industries.
Europe
After significant developments in the international arena took
place--where the role of culture in achieving sustainability and
development was recognized and reflected in development
policies--broad-scale national and regional endeavours became possible
in Europe. One such seminal event was the Intergovernmental Conference
on Cultural Policies for Development held in Stockholm in 1998, where
the 150 represented countries agreed to make cultural policy one of the
key components of their endogenous and sustainable development (UNESCO
1998). In this way, a path was created for integrative policies on
regional and local levels in both urban and rural settings.
Awakening to the potential of culture in development is not only a
modern phenomenon, having its roots well back in the past. In the course
of time, in different countries around the world, culture has been
increasingly dependent upon governments, but governments have also been
increasingly dependent upon culture as an essential element within
economic development strategies at many scales (Graham et al. 2000). In
urban Europe, incomes from visitors attracted by historic and other
cultural interests and values have been an important part of the economy
and development of great historic, artistic, educational and cultural
centres for centuries. Well-known examples include Florence, Venice,
Rome and Naples in Italy; Madrid and Seville in Spain; Paris in France;
Cologne, Bonn, Munich, Nuremberg and Dresden in Germany; Vienna and
Salzburg in Austria; Amsterdam and The Hague in the Netherlands; and
Brussels, Antwerp and Bruges in Belgium. European cities are host to
some of the world's most ambitious current development programs led
by cultural heritage initiatives that are seen in Athens, London, St.
Petersburg, Vilnius, Istanbul, Quito, Sana'a, Tunis, Salvador,
Havana, Mexico and elsewhere. A major success in cultural heritage use
that led to economic and social regeneration is the historic centre of
Prague, unique in Europe for being spared direct war damage.
Furthermore, initiatives of this kind are observed in cities and
towns that have never been typical tourist attractions. One such example
is the city of Bradford in England, which in the past had been dominated
by the textile industry. Over 25 years ago the City Council decided
that, particularly with its traditional woollen industry in steep
decline, Bradford could not compete with more affluent parts of the
country in terms of economic and social development. It started
establishing a distinctive market niche and chose culture--both historic
and contemporary--as the focus of its modern-day development (Boylan
1995) in an attempt to create a new image for the city to replace the
old one of "dark, satanic mills." Most recently, the city
became one of the contenders for 2008 European Capital of Culture and
gained international attention and acclaim for its bold vision for
regenerating the city centre.
Boylan also notes that close parallels to this case can be found in
many other European countries, particularly in areas of urban decline
following the closure or major down-sizing of traditional urban
industries, as, for example, in part of the Ruhr valley in Germany and
the coalfield areas of the France-Belgium border. Another example comes
from Grainger Town in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where public sector funding
for the purposes of conservation was used as leverage for private sector
money, creating 1,900 jobs, 522 new homes and 70 restored old buildings
(Pendlebury 2002). Plenty of examples in Eastern Europe similarly
illustrate the increasing symbolic significance attributed to cultural
heritage--perceived as an expression of identity and a constitutive
element of society--in local and national development policies (Weber
1995). During recent turbulence and transitions, these countries--which
are re-inventing and re-evaluating their traditional values and
identities--have searched for a more stable marker to shape new
development and have found it in their more distant heritage. This has
allowed them to re-emphasize both the uniqueness and common roots of
their heritage in efforts toward reunification within Europe.
Rural revitalization
Likewise, cultural heritage is estimated to play a significant role
in rural revitalization. Already in 1987-1988 the Council of Europe had
launched the European Campaign for the Rural World. It aimed to involve
governments in the development of rural regions, preserving their
historical continuity and conserving the quality of their multiple and
diverse resources: from natural and environmental heritage to historical
and cultural values; from architectural and artistic goods to languages,
the human dimension, and working and living conditions. The Campaign
focused on the necessity of multipurpose policy for rural areas to be
able to reverse their decline. Again, cultural heritage was recognized
as a generator for rural revitalization, and rural revitalization was
simultaneously seen as a way to safeguard the unique cultural heritage
in which Europe traces its roots and identity. In addition, survival of
the European rural world was seen as a basic condition for stable and
long-term economic development of the whole European community, filling
the gap between rural and urban regions (Ashworth and Larkham 1994).
Similar trends are present in other rural regions around the world.
For example, The American Farmland Trust was established in 1980 as a
nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to farmland protection and
sustainable agriculture, through maintaining rural lifestyles and
landscapes, and especially the family farm (American Farmland Trust
2006). Another major initiative, launched by Heritage Canada in the
1980s, was a program developed to help rural areas hard hit by a
weakened economy and population migration by finding new ways to
regenerate communities. The approach--called Heritage Regions (Le Blanc
1991, Heritage Canada 1995)--was based on motivating and helping
existing bodies integrate their various initiatives, linking education,
conservation and entrepreneurship, and using natural and cultural
resources.
In England, English Heritage drafted a Rural White Paper
highlighting the strong contribution made by historic buildings,
landscapes and monuments to the quality of people's surroundings,
their sense of identity and to the health of England's tourism
industry. It also highlighted contributions to the balanced and
sustainable regeneration of the countryside through the re-use of
cultural heritage (DEFRA 2000). Likewise, The Australian Heritage
Commission has been very active in cooperating with local communities,
landowners, and natural and cultural resource managers. The Commission
(2000) has produced an award-winning guide--Protecting Local Heritage
Places, a Guide for Communities--to assist communities around Australia
to re-assess their heritage in the context of community needs and
aspirations, including developing heritage business opportunities. A
number of initiatives around Australia in recent years have brought
heritage and tourism together in creative community and business
ventures (King 1999).
Developing countries
It is noteworthy that heritage-based development initiatives are
planned and implemented in developing countries and countries in
transition as well. In some cases, these are self-initiated, in others,
they are stimulated from outside. An illustrative example is the Shaxi
Valley Rehabilitation Project in China. China has 70% of its population
living in rural and mountainous areas where poverty and economic
underdevelopment are widespread. Shaxi valley, located in the foothills
of the Himalaya, is known as one of the last strongholds of the Bai
minority and is famous for its historic market square of Shaxi listed as
a World Heritage Site.
The recently started Shaxi Rehabilitation and Development project
has focused on achieving sustainable endogenous development of the rural
community by generating a framework for ecological, economic and social
issues to balance development and heritage conservation in the long run.
Rural tourism is not considered the sole vehicle for revitalization of
the valley, but only one of four basic pillars--which include a
well-maintained structural environment, improved infrastructure and
economic diversification. A comprehensive plan, including zoning,
transportation, sustainable basic infrastructure, tourism development,
historic heritage protection, development and investment was produced by
regional authorities in cooperation with the Swiss Federal Institute for
Environmental Science and Technology (Feiner et al. 2002). The
implementation strategy includes six different modules: Marketplace
Restoration, Historic Village Preservation, Sustainable Valley
Development, Ecological Sanitation, Poverty Alleviation and
Dissemination, and is intended to become a guiding model for wide-scale
conservation and development throughout the region.
In this vein, equally worth mentioning are the increasing number of
initiatives in the sphere of development assistance in developing
countries, which focus on the resource value of heritage. The World Bank
has been progressively drawing attention to the fact that culture and
heritage can contribute directly to core development objectives in
several important ways:
* Providing new opportunities for poor communities to grow out of
poverty by generating incomes from their own cultural knowledge and
production;
* Catalyzing local-level development through the diverse social,
cultural, economic, and physical resources that communities have to work
with;
* Conserving and generating revenues from existing cultural assets
by reviving city centres, conserving socially significant natural
assets, and generating sustainable, significant tourism revenues;
* Strengthening social capital--in particular, to provide a basis
on which poor, marginalized groups can pursue activities that enhance
their self-respect and efficacy and to strengthen respect for diversity
and social inclusion so that such groups can have a share in the
benefits of economic development; and
* Diversifying strategies of human development and capacity
building for knowledge-based dynamic societies--for example, through
support for local publishing, library services, and museum services,
especially those serving marginalized communities and children (World
Bank 1998: 15).
In its strategy paper on cultural heritage and development for the
countries of the Middle East and North Africa, The World Bank in
cooperation with UNESCO, outlined a new development paradigm--one that
places economic development within its social context. On the basis of
this new paradigm the future of the region is seen as greatly depending
on the region's unique history, culture and the cultivation of a
strong identity rooted in this uniqueness but open to the rest of the
world (Cernea 2001: 4). To implement this orientation, a pioneering set
of investment projects in the cultural heritage sectors has already been
developed in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and many other areas.
Important economic and social impacts are anticipated.
Positive impacts are becoming visible in some places, as in the
Rehabilitation and Revitalization Project of the historic city of Fez in
Morocco, where the preservation of the historic urban areas proved
intricately linked to the problems of achieving sustainability in all
societal, cultural, economic and environmental terms. Despite being on
UNESCO's World Heritage list, Fez--like most historic centres in
the developing world and due to a complex of reasons--has suffered
progressive erosion of it