Protection of Living Heritage: Implementing New Tools for Heritage Resilience

PART 2. RECOGNIZING INTANGIBLE HERITAGE AND DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES - Intangible Heritage as a Driver of Cultural Landscape Management and Holistic Conservation /// This paper concerns new ideas, strategies and tools for protection of living (intangible) heritage in the United States. Existing approaches to protection of living heritage are reviewed by qualitative analysis. The commonly employed past techniques of heritage conservation, per the current state of practice, are generally inadequate. New initiatives, policies and programs which can be pursued by local municipalities show promise for greater sustainability of culture and overall enhanced resilience of intangible heritage. This paper outlines roles for municipal government in developing collaborative and integrated policies with advocacy groups, institutions and community. Various forms of participatory engagement are described, including cultural mapping and oral history collection to document intangible heritage. Strategies to enhance local businesses and create local jobs are suggested. The end goal of this analysis is to strengthen the value of intangible heritage through best principles of conservation, planning, government programs and urban design. Ultimately, high potential for success is observed, but quantitative data is lacking for analysis of pros and cons regarding each of the strategies and tools. Protection of living heritage in the US is nascent area of both scholarship and practice.