ABSTRACT
During the research and writing of this book, the transformation of Luang Prabang has continued, but not without notice. Perhaps most important, UNESCO scrutiny of the transformations we have noted throughout this book has increased. In March of 2008, UNESCO published the results of their Reactive Mission to The Town of Luang Prabang, although it was not available publicly until several months later. In this report they call special attention to the “demolition and reconstruction of listed properties” and the “over-densification of urban fabric” (Boccardi and Logan 2007: 2), two phenomena that were clearly evident to us. They call attention to the city's wats and the erosion of the sociospatial relationship between village residents and wats based on alms-giving.
