IN-PERSON London Heritages. Section B

Abstract

Guidelines and recommendations from UNESCO suggest that urban heritage can foster social cohesion. However, evidence to support this argument remains scarce. Moreover, the multiple interpretations and uses of the concept of social cohesion pose a central challenge to validating the argument. Contributing to address this issue, the Ph.D. project overarching this paper explores how social cohesion constructs are articulated in the context of UNESCO World Heritage (WH) Cities. The project uses discursive institutionalism as a theoretical frame and combines content analysis, discourse analysis, and in-depth interviews to examine how social cohesion discursive repertoires are (re)produced in UNESCO management guidelines relevant for urban areas, in the Statements of Outstanding Universal Value (SoOUV) of recently inscribed WH cities, and by the experts creating and using these documents. This paper highlights three repertoires articulating social cohesion notions: 1) the encouragement of (inclusive) participatory processes and shared responsibility for heritage at multiple levels, 2) the need for regulatory mechanisms to maintain harmony, and 3) the recognition of traditional and social practices and urban functions as values to be protected. The paper also points out that articulations of distributive typologies of social cohesion, focusing on addressing inequalities, remain rare and superficial in WH, and discusses possible tensions between uses of urban heritage for social justice objectives or to reinforce existing power structures. Finally, it reflects on how multiple heritage realms, such as critical heritage studies and the Historic Urban Landscape approach, may interact and influence heritage-making processes in the frame of the WH system.