Heritage Planning in Practice and the Role of Cultural Ecosystem Services

• This paper investigates the role of cultural ecosystem services in heritage planning by examining daily working processes at the municipal and county planning levels. The focus was on the cultural ecosystem service dimensions of cultural heritage, place identity, and aesthetic and existential values. Cultural ecosystem service dimensions are currently inadequately represented in research and application of the ecosystem service concept. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with public officials with formal assignments directly related to heritage planning. The results show that cultural ecosystem services are indeed considered in the planning processes, even though the respondents did not actually use the ecosystem service approach. Despite institutional and methodological constraints, respondents were found to aim for a broad planning approach involving dimensions of the landscape such as historic time depth, human use of the landscape, place identity, landscape views, and a strong integration between culture and nature. Thus, the results indicate a potential for integration of cultural ecosystem service dimensions into the ecosystem service approach by utilizing existing knowledge and practices within heritage planning at the local and regional levels.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Annan naturvetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Other Natural Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Cultural heritage

place identity

aesthetic and existential values

cultural landscape

heritage planning

ecosystem services

integrated planning

aesthetic and existential values

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)