Inheriting the city: advancing understandings of urban heritage

Abstract

In the context of rapid cultural and economic globalization, Urban Heritage, as the valued tangible and intangible legacies of the past, would appear to be an increasingly important asset for communities and governments alike, allowing cities to mark their distinctiveness, attract tourists and retain a historical narrative that feeds into the quality of life. With this theme, the conference ‘Inheriting the City: Advancing Understandings of Urban Heritage’ was organized where participants in the conference included academicians, policy makers and practitioners and there were many discussions on the ways heritage is being protected, managed and mobilized in rapidly changing and pressurized urban contexts. It explored the type of heritage, both tangible and intangible, that cities and towns will pass to future generations, and the processes through which the heritage of cities is being re-made, re-presented and re-used. The alternatives to “Museumification as the sole means to preserve Heritage” were also discussed in many of the presentations. In this conference, we presented a paper titled 'Shaping place identity through continuity and change in cultural inheritance: The Case of Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, India'.