Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on three ‘water urbanisms’: the Hiti water system of Nepal; the Banaue Rice Terraces in the Philippines; and the Polders of Bangladesh. It offers revisions on how the terms ‘urban’ and ‘landscape’ would need substantial rewriting to critically include the layers of intangible and mobile histories that were at the core of this cultural landscape. The book highlights the importance of adopting technically oriented mechanisms to local heritage conservation to study the affective encounter between people and place. It also focuses on the validity of intangible cultural heritage as a resource for sustainable development of historic cities. The book explores how community-based heritage values could be understood and be assessed effectively to form a collective understanding that could then feed into heritage policies and practices.