ABSTRACT

Public participation and local community involvement in heritage conservation have taken centre-ground over the last two decades. Arguably recognised as the new norm, and as established principles in planning and cultural policy, they are less well embedded in contemporary conservation practice. In the UK, Power of Place (English Heritage 2000) was a watershed for this change in focus, although internationally the shift towards recognition of cultural pluralism came much earlier, underpinning the evolution of the Australia ICOMOS Burra Charter from 1979 and international principles on social inclusion and diversity embedded in conventions and charters from that decade onwards (ibid.; Australia ICOMOS 2013; uNESCO 2005). The current uk Government White Paper on Culture, just published at the time of writing, acknowledges still ‘the challenge of creating more cultural opportunities, particularly for those whose chance to experience culture is more limited’ (DCMS 2016:13). However, its focus is firmly on what ‘culture’ can do for society and the economy rather than on recognising and nurturing what communities do to enrich and creatively shape their own culture and heritage. In this volume, drawn from the 2014 Engaging Conservation conference and collaborations at the University of York, we bring together ideas and experience from people working in cultural heritage conservation to look critically and honestly at the progress we have made – see, for example, keith Emerick on ‘Ending the tyranny of Ruskin and Morris?’ (2014: 219-37) – in democratising our practice and the changes that are still to be negotiated.