Skip to main content
SLU publication database (SLUpub)

Research article2020Peer reviewedOpen access

Reviewing Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tools through Critical Heritage Studies

Aguiar Borges, Luciane; Hammami, Feras; Wangel, Josefin

Abstract

This article reports on a critical review of how cultural heritage is addressed in two internationally well-known and used neighborhood assessment tools (NSAs): BREEAM Communities (BREEAM-C) and LEED Neighborhood Design (LEED-ND). The review was done through a discourse analysis in which critical heritage studies, together with a conceptual linking of heritage to sustainability, served as the point of departure. The review showed that while aspects related to heritage are present in both NSAs, heritage is re-presented as primarily being a matter of safeguarding material expressions of culture, such as buildings and other artifacts, while natural elements and immaterial-related practices are disregarded. Moreover, the NSAs institutionalize heritage as a field of formal knowledge and expert-dominated over the informal knowledge of communities.

Keywords

critical heritage; sustainable development; urban sustainability; neighborhood sustainability assessment (NSA); BREEAM-C; LEED-ND

Published in

Sustainability
2020, Volume: 12, number: 4, article number: 1605

    Sustainable Development Goals

    SDG11 Sustainable cities and communities

    UKÄ Subject classification

    Human Geography
    Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified
    Cultural Studies

    Publication identifier

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12041605

    Permanent link to this page (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/105076