Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses

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Subject: Australia × Subject: New Zealand × Type: PhD thesis × Author: Teague, Alexandra Mary ×

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    Materialising the immaterial: social value and the conservation of recent everyday places
    Teague, Alexandra Mary ( 2004)
    This thesis argues that recent everyday places can constitute significant cultural heritage. All places are cultural heritage, but only some are judged to be significant cultural heritage by professionals applying established criteria. Recent everyday places can play an essential role in people's lives, and become sites of strong emotional connection. In Australia and New Zealand, social value is the heritage criterion that recognises people's attachment to place. Recent everyday places are potentially significant cultural heritage if they have social value, yet they are difficult to accept as such, and they are rarely recognised in heritage conservation procedures. They do not fit preconceived notions of cultural heritage; their significance is not understood; and they have no established tradition of academic inquiry for support. The objective of this research is to examine the relation between recent everyday places and social value within the context of the contemporary Western heritage conservation frameworks. The thesis is an analytical study comprising two principal components: discourse review and analysis, and case study analysis. Discourse analysis draws upon two primary fields of inquiry. The first is contemporary Western heritage conservation discourse, including policy, legislation, charters, and literature. The second is multidisciplinary academic discourse that recognises everyday life, everyday objects, everyday places, and their values and meanings. The case study analyses apply a framework of current theoretical and practical conservation methodologies and methods to selected places in Australia and New Zealand. Findings from the research are two-fold: Firstly, social value is not adequately represented within established heritage conservation frameworks. Secondly, the acceptance of recent everyday places as significant cultural heritage is problematic because of the relation with social value. The major implication from the research findings is that recent everyday places with social value will not be accepted as culturally significant heritage until social value is adequately represented within the theoretical and methodological frameworks of contemporary Western heritage conservation. The inadequate representation of social value has implications for all heritage places with social value. The inclusion of social value in theoretical frameworks will have limited application until the methodological frameworks and methods can enable it to be maintained. Until this happens, important connections between people and place will continue to be neglected in the decision-making processes that are designed to create and maintain the quality of the built environment.