ABSTRACT
Until now I have explored the construction of outstanding universal value for cities as part of international and transnational heritage discourses and valuation practices. The story of a World Heritage city, however, does not end at the point of designation. Hence, in this chapter the focus will be shifted to the local level, to a city of medieval origin, Rauma, located on the west coast of Finland (Figure 6.1). Traditionally a port and a mercantile town, Rauma became industrialized beginning in the early twentieth century. Post-war industrialization then led to population growth in the context of this small community of a few thousand people, reaching 20,000 inhabitants by 1960.1 Today Rauma has 40,000 inhabitants. Old Rauma, an area that was surrounded by a toll fence until the early nineteenth century (Figure 6.2), was inscribed onto the World Heritage List in 1991 as one of the first two Finnish sites.
