The Concept of Pervading Authenticity: Contribution to Historic Urban Landscape approach

Abstract

The article focuses on the notion of Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) introduced by the UNESCO in 2005 and 2011 responding to the expanding understanding of cultural heritage and the urgent call to reconcile heritage preservation and contemporary urban developments and re-introduce heritage as a driver of urban and overall societies development. The analysis of the fundamental and recent literature on the theoretical grounding and the applications of HUL had revealed numerous benefits of this concept including the integration potential, acknowledgement of intangible dimensions of heritage and the values of contemporary architecture; however, several challenges and conflicts were identified as well: the challenge of the search of valuable historical patterns, the questions of what extent of change of historic environment is acceptable, and the underlying tension between the call to conserve the existing valuable historical fabric and the urge to employ heritage as the driver for high quality future development. The research suggests that the understanding of the notion of authenticity plays the fundamental role in the success of the HUL approach and, after reviewing the contemporary ideas on heritage authenticity, introduces permanent pervading authenticity, which would allow searching for valuable development patterns based on kairos time instead of chronos in the frame of the HUL concept.

Conducting Heritage Tourism-Led Urban Renewal in Chinese Historical and Cultural Urban Spaces: A Case Study of Datong

“…In this regard, the historic urban landscape helps record and document the history and cultural context of the city. Furthermore, the promotion of historic urban landscapes helps view the historic urban areas as manifestations of the public's cultural heritage, which is a product of both tangible and intangible characteristics [31]. In addition to the fundamental role of material or tangible resources in preserving the authenticity of historical sites, the intangible resources and values embedded in a heritage site or the historic urban landscape, such as its traditional cultural events or the public's collective memories, cannot be replicated, and this irreducible historical information forms part of the 'authenticity' of a heritage site and urban environment [10,30].…”

Narrative-Based Nature of Heritage: Between Myth and Discourses: Case of Šiluva Place-Making in Progress

“…Relying on B. Hillier's notion of the genetic code of the city, we need to introduce the concept of the pervasiveness of authenticity [40], which relies on the tenet that authenticity is neither physical nor stable in form but is rather substance that is either intensive in terms of spatiotemporal distribution or extensive in terms of spatiotemporal distribution, depending on the demand of a particular Zeitgeist.…”

Research on the Conservation Methods of Qu Street’s Living Heritage from the Perspective of Life Continuity

“…The inheritance of culture and spirit was also of great significance [5]. Understanding the value of cultural heritage became the key to judging authenticity [6]. However, in practice, the focus of heritage protection is still on material, and the use of adaptive use [7].…”