From Zero Sum Game to Arranged Marriage: The Struggle between Built Heritage Conservation and Urban Development in Post-colonial Hong Kong

Abstract

More than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, and cities provide the setting for a number of significant contemporary challenges such as population growth, mass tourism, and unequal access to socio-economic opportunities. Urban Heritage, Development and Sustainability examines the impact of these issues on urban heritage, focusing on innovative approaches to managing developmental pressures, as well as the ways taking an ethical, inclusive and holistic approach to urban planning and heritage conservation may create a stronger basis for the sustainable growth of cities into the future. This volume is a timely analysis of current theories and practises in urban heritage, with particular reference to the conflict between, and potential reconciliation of, conservation and development goals. A global range of case studies detail a number of distinct practical approaches to heritage on international, national and local scales, with examples from Australia, Canada, China, Cuba, England, France, India, Laos, Mozambique, Myanmar, Spain, Tunisia and Vietnam. The opening chapters reveal the disjunctions between international frameworks and national implementation, and also assess how internationally agreed concepts can be misused to justify unsustainable practices or to further economic globalization and political nationalism. The exclusion of many local communities from development policies, and the subsequent erosion of their cultural heritage, is also discussed, with the collection emphasizing the importance of 'grass roots' heritage and more inclusive approaches to heritage management. As alternatives to imported solutions, a series of culturally responsive strategies are considered as a means to manage change in a way that both responds to the need to conserve urban heritage and strengthens the social and cultural rights of communities whose heritage is being conserved. Contributions from an international group of authors, including practitioners as well as leading academics, deliver a broad and balanced coverage of this topic. Addressing the interests of both urban planners and heritage specialists, Urban Heritage, Development and Sustainability is an important addition to the field which will encourage further discourse.