It’s people, in addition to architecture or history, that make some meeting places worthy of heritage protection. Social values are now among the listing criteria, but many such places remain at risk.
Jack Mundey fought to save Australia’s urban and environmental heritage. An architect of green bans, his lifelong efforts empowered citizens to assert their right to keep the heritage of their city.
Bhaktapur suffered 300 deaths, 2,000 wounded and over 30,000 houses damaged in the 2015 earthquake. Heritage restoration has become crucial to community recovery.
Mining companies and some heritage consultants don’t understand the sacredness attached to ancestral remains, and the meaning of land in African communities.
A youthful Fed Square satisfied five criteria to be added to the Victorian Heritage Register. The listing protects the square as a public place, but doesn’t prevent its continuing evolution.
Two thirds of China’s 900m rural residents are moving to cities. Now, architects are finding ways to preserve their built heritage, before it disappears.
Images of Notre Dame on fire have elicited an outpouring of grief around the world and online. This response raises the question of why we feel more connected to some heritage places than others.
With modern technology, it is entirely possible for the cathedral to be recreated with near-accuracy to the original. We can do this and keep the original building’s spirit and feeling.
Senior Lecturer in Architectural HIstory and Theory, UNSW & Honorary Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Architectural History, Urban and Cultural Heritage (ACAHUCH), UNSW Sydney