Authorities should be developing models of heritage governance that enhance public participation and the inherited environment. Heritage conservation needs to be reimagined to renew its mission as a centrepiece of aspirations towards social, environmental, economic and cultural sustainability. If our leaders and policymakers can achieve this, they might be able to declare, at least temporarily, a halt to hostilities between communities and the demolishers.
If we can all agree about what heritage is, that seems straightforward. But do we?
Another way of discovering what heritage legislation does is to ask what problems it sought to fix in the first place. This requires some historical context. We should also consider what the future role of heritage could be.
War on the demolishers
In 1825, French writer and politician Victor Hugo launched his public career with a powerful essay, War on The Demolishers. It was arguably the first major political broadside launched on behalf of architectural and urban conservation. Notre Dame Cathedral was one of the inspirations for Victor Hugo’s essay.