ABSTRACT
This chapter poses a simple, and to some no doubt unnecessary, question, namely ‘can heritage be used to create landscapes (and their urban manifestation, townscapes) in order to shape or enhance places identities, thereby increasing the well-being of those who experience them and, through that, contribute a recognisable and measurable dividend to the quality of life?’ More specifically, ‘can places be planned with the objective of revealing, preserving, enhancing or inventing local place identity and particularly can heritage be used as an instrument for achieving this objective?’ The question, ‘should this be done?’ is usually implicit. To be clear on the relationships inherent in this question, landscape is the resource, heritage is the instrument and identity the goal.
