Rethinking conservation: managing cultural heritage as an inhabited cultural landscape

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to suggest an approach to cultural heritage management as an inhabited cultural landscape in a context of urban planning. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a review of academic literature on the topic of cultural heritage conservation. Findings – This paper supports an approach to management of cultural heritage as a cultural landscape, defining it as a multivalent social phenomenon with tangible and intangible dimensions, spatial, and temporal scales. The cultural landscape approach continues the discourse on heritage values and emphasises the importance of recognition of social value and hence a wider stakeholder participation in the process of heritage management. This approach allows enhancing both intangible and tangible dimensions of cultural heritage and, therefore, encourages a more inclusive consideration of diverse cultural heritage values (encompassing social and environmental categories, e.g. well-being, health). Originality/value – The proposed cultural landscape approach to heritage management, as a culturally significant, inhabited, and changing landscape, enables a more comprehensive view on the interrelations of cultural heritage with other social and environmental categories and enhances the understanding of different values of cultural heritage. This approach could be particularly useful for strategic development at city planning level and in large construction or infrastructural projects.