'Your place and mine' : heritage management and a sense of place

Abstract

This study presents an analysis of human encounter with place. It examines the personal and cultural importance of an attachment to place, focusing on the reciprocal relationship between cultural heritage and a sense of place. Place is constructed out of mutual meanings between people and their environment. The study begins with an indepth look at the theory of place. In a series of heritage management case studies, the theory is applied in order to illustrate how meanings of place may be expressed. Place as a normative concept provides a role for resource managers in finding the meanings people associate with places, and in nurturing and enhancing these meanings. This involves the recognition of different values and 'stories' that are associated with place. Recognising these differences helps shift resource management away from the simplicity of grand narratives and totalizing discourses, towards a respect for intangible and multiple meanings in place.

To a certain extent an understanding of place is already informing both natural and cultural management decisions in New Zealand, although this may not be explicitly recognised. To approach cultural heritage management from the perspective of place, however, challenges the current directions that heritage management is taking in this country. The study proposes a way of taking up that challenge, and concludes that the importance of place should not be overlooked.