ABSTRACT
In our conclusion, ‘Heart-bombing heritage’, Thompson M. Mayes reviews key concepts from his book Why Old Places Matter – How Historic Places Affect Our Identity and Well-Being, assertings that the emotional attachment people have to the old places of their lives is the most fundamental rationale for retaining older places in our cities and communities and is necessary for psychological and emotional health. Although preservationists and heritage conservationists express this idea rhetorically, the field has not generally shaped or re-shaped its tools to match this fundamental need but continues to rely on architectural and historical criteria. Considering the methodological approaches presented in the preceding chapters, the conclusion recognises that these approaches provide the field of preservation with tools that could capture peoples’ emotional attachments to place, while also acknowledging the structural challenges to implementing the methods. If implemented, these approaches have broader ancillary benefit for the field, including increasing democratisation of the field, fostering a living authenticity of heritage and civic engagement, and even increasing peoples’ attachment to heritage places.
