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Heritage values and legal rules: Identification and treatment of the historic environment via an adaptive regulatory framework (part 2)

Jeremy C. Wells (School of Architecture, Art and Preservation, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA)
Lucas Lixinski (Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia)

Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development

ISSN: 2044-1266

Article publication date: 4 September 2017

Issue publication date: 18 September 2017

420

Abstract

Purpose

Existing regulatory frameworks for identifying and treating historic buildings and places reflect deference to expert rule, which privileges the values of a small number of heritage experts over the values of the majority of people who visit, work, and reside in historic environments. The purpose of this paper is to explore a fundamental shift in how US federal and local preservation laws address built heritage by suggesting a dynamic, adaptive regulatory framework that incorporates heterodox approaches to heritage and therefore is capable of accommodating contemporary sociocultural values.

Design/methodology/approach

The overall approach used is a comparative literature review from the fields of heterodox/orthodox heritage, heterodox/orthodox law, adaptive management, and participatory methods to inform the creation of a dynamic, adaptive regulatory framework.

Findings

Tools such as dialogical democracy and participatory action research are sufficiently pragmatic in implementation to envision how an adaptive regulatory framework could be implemented. This new framework would likely require heterodox definitions of law that move beyond justice as a primary purpose and broaden the nature of legal goods that can be protected while addressing discourses of power to benefit a larger group of stakeholders.

Practical implications

The authors suggest that an adaptive regulatory framework would be particularly beneficial for architectural and urban conservation planning, as it foregrounds considerations other than property rights in decision-making processes. While such a goal appears to be theoretically possible, the challenge will be to translate the theory of an adaptive regulatory framework into practice as there does not appear to be any precedent for its implementation. There will be issues with the need for increased resources to implement this framework.

Originality/value

To date, there have been few, if any, attempts to address critical heritage studies theory in the context of the regulatory environment. This paper appears to be the first such investigation in the literature.

Keywords

Citation

Wells, J.C. and Lixinski, L. (2017), "Heritage values and legal rules: Identification and treatment of the historic environment via an adaptive regulatory framework (part 2)", Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 345-363. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-07-2016-0044

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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