ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the way identity is constructed in relation to landscape, and how that is expressed in management issues such as heritage and tourism. Two themes are dominant in this discussion. The first is the role of time, particularly past time, in embedding identity. Several temporalities are involved: the passage of time, perceptions of the past and the pace of change in different arenas of practice. The second theme is the contests that emerge from overlapping or competing identities in landscape. The prime example of this is increasing concern with heritage, a theme that echoes issues of preservation and restoration discussed in Chapter 8. The two are connected by two important dimensions of heritage identified by Lowenthal (1996): origins or priority – ‘being first’, and lineage and kinship – ‘being innate’. With increasing tourist interest in cultural landscapes, particularly old ones, these issues play out in terms of present and future management.