Integrating contemporary social values into heritage management and conservation practice: towards an organisational approach

Presented by Siân Jones and Elizabeth Robson.

Abstract

How can organisations mandated to care for the historic environment balance the values and judgements of professionals, on which they have traditionally relied, with community knowledge and experiences? How does an institution’s responsibility to conserve historic places for the future take account of their significance to people in the present? In this paper, we examine these questions through an ongoing collaborative research project with the National Trust for Scotland that aims to develop a strategic, organisation-wide approach to contemporary social values.

Established in 1931, today the Trust is responsible for conserving and protecting over 100 historic properties, 76,000 hectares of land, 10,000 archaeological sites, and 300,000 objects. As the organisation approaches its centenary, the context within which the Trust cares for Scotland’s natural and cultural heritage has changed significantly, with contemporary issues including climate change, sustainable development, and the legacies of slavery and empire.

Understanding the diverse social values of heritage places is central to responding to many of these issues, but integrating social values into conservation and management processes also implies new roles and responsibilities for heritage practitioners. In this seminar paper, we will discuss some of the opportunities and tensions these changes bring, drawing on our preliminary research with Trust staff and early case studies.

Siân Jones is Professor of Heritage and Director of the Centre for Environment, Heritage and Policy at the University of Stirling. She is an interdisciplinary scholar with expertise in cultural heritage and the role of the past in the production of power, identity, and sense of place. Recent projects focus on conservation practice, authenticity, replicas and reconstructions, participatory approaches to social value and community heritage, and care for cultural heritage in the context of war. Her latest book, The Object of Conservation (2022, with T. Yarrow), is an ethnographic account of professional practice in a national heritage organisation.

Elizabeth Robson is Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Heritage team at the University of Stirling. Her research interests are in the contemporary significance of historic places and the impact they have on society, with a focus on collaborative knowledge production, people-centred methods, and the role of communities in heritage management, placemaking, and planning processes. Her first monograph, Assessing the Social Values of Heritage: Methods in Theory and Practice, considers how social values can be better understood and incorporated into the day-to-day work of managing and conserving the historic environment, and will be published by Routledge in early 2025.