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

SLU Authors

• Wangel, Josefin

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable


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