Oddrun Sæter

Capturing the intangible and tangible aspects of heritage: personal versus official perspectives in cultural heritage management.

Abstract In discussions on how to handle local heritage values, local values or insider-ness are often seen as synonymous with intangible aspects of heritage. At the same time, expert knowledge is usually associated with material objects, whereby experts have had the power to define what to preserve. In this study of three Norwegian towns, complementary and interdisciplinary methods have been used to address the relationship between personal and official perspectives on cultural heritage values and their tangible and intangible aspects. Results from interviews asking people to describe places they value in the area in which they live have been compared with results from a study of the official heritage plans in three selected towns. The study shows that a gap has unintentionally been constructed in the understanding of cultural heritage. To bridge the gap additional methods for documentation of cultural heritage and their contexts have to be developed. Experiments with various forms of active user participation are one way to introduce new additional approaches and thereby create local engagement and awareness of the role cultural heritage can play.

Alternative perspectives? The implementation of public participation in local heritage planning

Recently, increased attention has been paid to the importance of everyday landscapes in the Western world, and a stronger political will to involve local participation in planning processes has emerged. The authors discuss the implementation of the political will to engage the Norwegian public in local heritage planning and whether or not this new role can have a mobilising effect on heritage protection. In Norway, cultural heritage managers have established methods for identifying valuable heritage assets in cultural historic landscapes. As increased responsibility for cultural heritage management is given to municipalities, more municipalities are making their own heritage plans to improve local heritage management. The article investigates how cultural heritage management in everyday landscapes is taking place, how heritage plans are developed, how local knowledge is involved, and what assets local residents appreciate in their environment, based on an in-depth study of two medium-sized Norwegian regional towns. The results show that local stakeholders were often invited to participate in planning processes, but that their contributions were largely kept out of official plans at the final stage. Further, the study revealed that memories and personal histories related to heritage appreciations are important elements in building identity, both at a personal level and at a local level.