ABSTRACT
A primary aim of the heritage enterprise is to identify and manage those places that have the highest potential for incurring social and environmental benefits in the future, by protecting tangible heritage resources and engaging communities in dialogues about how and why those places matter. Through listing and designation, the heritage field creates a growing stock of protected resources, thereby privileging the physical past over future constructs in the interest of intergenerational equity. An inherent aim of heritage conservation is to provide a canvas for storytelling and narratives about the past in the built environment. The challenge of balancing products and processes – of creating heritage places and engaging memory through place – is compounded by broader social and environmental concerns regarding sustainability. The emphasis on preserving the physical fabric of places through time has pervaded heritage policy, despite advances in knowledge regarding the social construction of heritage and its associated values.
