HERITAGE CITIES
A workshop sponsored by:
Collaborative for Cultural Heritage and Museum Practices (CHAMP)
Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Center for Global Studies
Department of Landscape Architecture
Department of Anthropology
Heritage Cities workshop
March 7, 2008 (9:30-6:00 in Doris Kelley Christopher Hall) and
March 8, 2008 (9:00-12:30 in IPRH)
Organized by the Collaborative for Cultural Heritage and Museum Practices (CHAMP) co-director D. Fairchild Ruggles and Sharon Irish
“Heritage Cities” considers the historic urban environment both with respect to problems - such as authenticity, and the preservation of something that is inherently unstable and dynamic - and possibilities - such as revival and revitalization. The preservation of cultural heritage is typically regarded as a common good from which everyone benefits. But heritage is also intertwined with identity and territory, where individuals and communities may compete. This aspect of heritage is particularly problematic in cities across the globe that market themselves as “heritage cities.” Multiple claims from diverse inhabitants are inevitable and more than one of these may claim the right to interpret or possess an individual site or building. As the demographic composition of a neighborhood changes, an older community may leave but its memory will not necessarily be erased. In that case, does the historic urban fabric belong to the current or past residents? What is the role of memory in preserving cultural identity?
Friday, March 7: Christopher Hall
9:30-12:30 United States
D. Fairchild Ruggles (UIUC)
Love it or Levitt: Contested Heritage in Levittown, PA
The Politics and Heritage of Race and Space in San Francisco’s Chinatown
12:30 LUNCH BREAK (open to participants who ordered in advance)
2:00-5:45 North Africa and Asia
Globalization and Preservation in Chinese Cities: Shunde Case Study
6:30 Reception at Bread and Company
Saturday, March 8: IPRH
8:30 coffee
9:00-12:00 Latin and South America
Comparative Approaches in Habana Vieja and Trinidad, Cuba
Abstracts
March 7-8, 2008
Heritage is a concept to which most people assign a positive value. The preservation of material and intangible culture is typically presented as a shared common good in which everyone benefits. But heritage is also intertwined with identity and territory, where individuals and communities may compete. This aspect of heritage is particularly problematic in UNESCO World Heritage Cities and in other cities across the globe that market themselves specifically as “heritage cities.” One of the critical issues in dealing with cities is the enormity of their scale. A city is so large that multiple claims from diverse inhabitants are inevitable and more than one of these may claim the right to interpret or possess an individual site or building. Historically, residents have often divided according to ethnicity, laboring class, or language groups, congregating in neighborhoods – the barrio, quarter, or madina -- that express the identity of the residents through architecture, spatial organization, cuisine, and other external signs. As the demographic composition of a neighborhood changes, the older communities may leave but the memory will not necessarily be erased. In that case, does the historic urban fabric belong to the current or past residents? What is the role of memory in preserving cultural identity?
This workshop brings together representatives from various sectors (historians, urban planners, archaeologists, geographers, anthropologists, and tourism experts) who are concerned with the management of cultural heritage in the fascinating but almost uniformly endangered heritage cities. The workshop is sponsored by the Collaborative for Cultural Heritage and Museum Practices (CHAMP) and Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and will be held on our campus.
As an example of the workshop concerns we may turn to Latin America whose heritage cities face threats to their prehispanic architectural cores (e.g., Cusco, Peru), elite civic and ecclesiastical colonial architecture (throughout the region), and modern vernacular architecture (e.g., Havana, Cuba) due to economic development and/or neglect. Buildings and entire neighborhoods in these cities are in varying states of decay or face imminent physical destruction through the interaction of several factors such as deterioration of the urban core; loss of the traditional residents due to gentrification prompted by construction activities of the tourism industry; ill-conceived restoration and reconstruction; awkward shift in function to service tourism; pollution and traffic; and antiquated infrastructure. At the same time, the social life of these cities (specifically in their historic central districts) is being radically altered with the influx of tourists eager to “consume” heritage. Traditional residents now compete with tourists (and the service sector that supports them) for access to and use of their historic central districts.
In contrast, at Champaner-Pavagadh, India, which received UNESCO World Heritage status in 2004, there is virtually no entertainment tourism; yet each year two million pilgrims climb the sacred mountain to visit the shrine of the goddess on its summit. The economy of Champaner depends on this pilgrimage traffic, and the pilgrimage route is lined with small shops selling ritual paraphernalia, souvenirs, water, and food. Addressing the heritage management of such a site requires not only attention to the pilgrims and their needs, but sensitivity to the needs of the resident community for basic amenities. In such cases, community development can go hand in hand with investments in tourism.
Whereas national tourism boards and assorted ministries represent and “manufacture” these heritage cities as signs of the “museum quality” identity of their countries (i.e., rich in indigenous, folkloric essence), in fact, history is being deployed in an aggressively modern project of economic development and engagement with the globalized world. The challenges and contradictions of these important population centers should be comprehensively addressed at the start of the 21st century with the goal of generating productive international dialogue and spearheading creative solutions for the preservation and revitalization of heritage cities.
On Friday, March 7, the workshop will be held in Christopher Hall on the campus of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. It begins with a full day of presentations on Friday, March 7. See details below for the Friday lunch option. Also, on Friday evening there will be a reception. The workshop continues with a half day of presentations on Saturday, March 8, at the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities.
Participants include:
Dianne Harris (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Chuo Li (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Irene Bierman-McKinney (UCLA), Sharon Haar (University of Illinois, Chicago), Zeynep Kezer (Newcastle University, UK), Emily Makas (University of North Carolina-Charlotte), Clare Sammells (University of Chicago), Joseph Scarpaci (Virginia Tech), and Helaine Silverman (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign).
The workshop is free and open to the public. Lunch will be served buffet style on Friday. If you would like to join us, please place your order before February 28, 2008, by emailing Sharon Irish, slirish at uiuc.edu Cash donations toward the food will be gratefully accepted on site the day of the event (recommended contribution: five dollars.)
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