ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with what might be termed modest heritage, as the aim is to consider what has persisted and what has changed or been transformed in the structure of the built environment and its urban landscape. Heritage is important for sustainability since the built environment represents an inherited capital in the form of material resources and human labour. However, the perception of the value of that capital means that large buildings are often favoured over the small, whatever their architectural merit. In sustainability terms, therefore, heritage is pulling in two directions: desire to keep the resources in the built environment, and to use existing urban land rather than new land for development to avoid loss of agricultural capital. The heritage of a city reflects the persistence of both traditions and past and present innovations, the new and the old. What is built it is just a fraction of the entire heritage of a culture.
