I thoroughly enjoyed Laurence Loh’s talk on
the soul of a place. He was so right that planners do not invest enough time in
understanding the intangible elements of place. During my time as a heritage
planner the word “character” was used at least 50 times in a meeting. But that
word is so powerful when addressing the cultural side of heritage planning. I
just thought it was a catch all term, like how the term sustainable development is used
these days. I am so so interested in Loh’s work with UNESCO Heritage Sites. I
plan to look through the UNESCO Operational Guidelines that he said were so
useful. Any good methodology is something I want to keep in my planner toolbox
because I believe that the same care and attention that goes to
restoring/readapting designated heritage areas need to go into all planning.
Although, I know in Edmonton the community
elements of these heritage areas are often ignored as they are in new developments. The
City of Edmonton is working on revitalizing the China Town area as well as what
there refer to as “the Quarters” a rundown inner city area that was the first townsite of
today’s Edmonton but is also a safe haven for the homeless where social
services are in abundance. It will be incredibly tricky to protect that
character of the area even though to an outsider it is the most undesirable
community they want near their businesses and homes. Let's see how UNESCO handles things.
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