This article draws upon the unpublished PhD thesis: Morphological concepts and urban landscape management, the cases of Alkmaar and Bromsgrove (Bienstman 2007, University of Birmingham).
Introduction
Urban heritage conservation has become a central theme in the worldwide development agenda that promotes inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities. Adaptive re-use, for example, is a widespread and successful strategy for the safekeeping of our heritage, as is a multi-stakeholder approach that does not rely entirely upon a government-financed approach.
However, for urban heritage to become fully integrated into the sustainable development agenda, it is vital that urban stakeholders and actors of change can understand and define their urban heritage, before guidelines on how to value, use and preserve it can be set. Terms often used are ‘sense of place,’ ‘character’ and genius loci. These concepts have a long history in geography, planning and architecture and they need further investigation.
The following explains some of the backgrounds to conservation, from a largely British point of view, as well as the concepts of character, sense of place and genius loci and their potential to heritage definition and management.
Historical background
Postwar developments and the townscape movement
A new historical consciousness that had emerged already in the second half of the 18th century became fundamental to a new approach to the evaluation of historic structures. It represented the beginning of modern conservation, which started to flourish in the period after the First World War (Jokilehto 1999).
After the Second World War, in many countries opposition grew against radical principles of architecture and planning, which often resulted in the demolition of historic buildings in the name of redevelopment. Muratori, for example, was one of the first architects in Italy to explicitly criticize developments that occurred there in the early 1950s. In general, the early 1960s saw a rise of interest in the pre-modern urban environment especially in Britain and the US, with publications by, for example, Conzen (1960), Lynch (1960), Cullen (1961) and Jacobs (1961).
In Britain, a new sensitivity towards the historic environment which appears to have been stirred on by drastic urban developments eventually led to the passing of the Civic Amenities Act in 1967, which required Local Planning Authorities to designate conservation areas. A special edition of the Architects Journal in that year was, in fact, entirely devoted to conservation areas, with messages on the first page from the Minister of Housing and Local Government and the President of the Civic Trust.They both argued that towns and cities were dangerously threatened by new buildings as well as the rise in motor traffic. The issues that arose for town and city centres in post-war Britain through the enormous increase in cars were considered in what became known as the Buchanan Report (Ministry of Traffic 1964), first published in 1963. One of the main problems indicated in this report was that the inherited layout of streets inside most towns was not suitable for the movement of traffic (p. 54). The report also considered the influence that the car had on the physical appearance of historic towns, reflected for example, in the ever-increasing number of parking spaces. 2 This organisation was founded in 1957 and aimed to ‘improve the appearance of town and country.’ President was Duncan Sandys, also the instigator of the Civic Amenities Bill, later to be accepted as the Civic Amenities Act. Similarly, other publications in the 1960s pointed out the problems that historic towns faced in this post-war period and made a case for historic preservation (see, for example, Denman et al. 1967). The increase in population and related pressures for housing, the growth of service employment, technological changes and the demands for industrial productivity, all led to the concern that ‘a wilderness of sprawled-out, uncoordinated development’ was being created (Ministry of Traffic 1964, p. 248).
Traffic in Towns (also known as the Buchanan report)
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57178712
In the 1950s and 1960s, some publications that were concerned with the idea of ‘townscape’ appeared in Britain. Developed by Gordon Cullen, art editor of the Architectural Review. The journal stirred a discussion through its attack on the results of rapid industrialisation and suburbanisation. Targets were the fragmentation of the rural landscape through urbanisation, and the spatial disintegration of city and village (Architectural Review 1955). The most important contributors to the discussion were Cullen and Nairn. Richards had already opposed the concept of modernistic urban design that dominated the rebuilding of destroyed inner cities, as well as the development of New Towns. He typified the new city image as ‘a kind of sculpture garden’, as places in which buildings are put together without any connection (Richards, quoted in Ellin 1999, p. 61).
As a design theory, the Townscape Movement set forth a preference for the picturesque, a-symmetry, chance and the ‘staging’ of elements. The city was built and read as an optical sequence of images, not as economical or political facts. There were problems with the reading of these ideas as a planning policy because there was a tendency to neglect, for example, existing plot patterns and building layouts. The Townscape Movement has been criticized by some as a reduction of urban form to a ‘stage set’ (Samuels, cited in Whitfield 1996, pp. 22-23). However, the concept of the townscape became widely accepted, and several authors followed in Cullen’s footsteps.
Front of the book ‘Townscape’ by Gordon Cullen Source: http://www.rethinkingcities.net/news/story/?item=106
An example of this and a relative latecomer in the post-war townscape literature was Burke’s Townscapes (1976). He looked at the study of townscapes as essential for ‘current’ times, ‘when so much redevelopment is taking place’ (p. 3). Burke attacked town councils and developers in both private and public sectors and suggested that the architect must take a commanding role against the enemy, whom he saw as creating an ugly, inhuman, unhealthy and dangerous urban environment (p. 222). In contemplating the future for townscapes, Burke emphasised the importance of conservation as well as the process of retaining and modifying old buildings.
The Townscape Movement introduced a new sensitiveness towards the historical environment and the changes this environment was subjected to in the post-war period. Chester, a study in conservation (Insall 1968), demonstrates how this new interest eventually found its way into political action in Britain. It was one out of four extensive reports on historic towns, commissioned by the Minister of Housing and Local Government and the City and County Councils in 1966. These reports aimed to examine how the conservation policies of the new 1967 Civic Amenities Act could be implemented. The studies looked at specific local problems but also took these towns as a basis for a more general application to all historic towns. Another example of such a practical approach is the Essex design guide (1973), which was an early indicator of a trend that aimed to provide design guidelines to focus attention on positive aspects of pre-modernist design practice.
Front of the book ‘Townscapes’ by Gerald Burke Source: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Townscapes-Pelican-S-Gerald-Burke/dp/0140218211
The concern with, and focus on the historical urban environment continued in the 1970s, exemplified by several well-known publications that, amongst others, dealt with the often problematic relationship between the existing built fabric and new developments. They were, for example, Rossi’s The architecture of the city (1982, originally published in 1966), A pattern language by Alexander et al. (1977), Rowe and Koetter’s Collage city (1978) and Norberg-Schulz’s Genius loci (1980).
In the meantime, the idea of ‘conservation’ had begun to take the place of ‘preservation’, to reflect a dynamic rather than a static approach to the protection of the historic environment. ‘Preservation’ appeared to reflect in its nature a focus on retaining buildings and areas in their original state, ignoring the need to adapt to changing circumstances and needs. ‘Conservation’ however, stood for a more active approach, that as well as preservation, also was to include enhancement.
Post-modern developments
The 1970s was primarily a period in which the scope of conservation was broadened. There was a rise of interest in vernacular architecture and the re-evaluation of industrial buildings, but also the view gained support that the historic built environment could provide a space in which economic and social regeneration could occur. During the following decade, conservation was increasingly argued to be complementary to urban regeneration and its broader connections with urban policy. Subsequently, the possibilities of place-marketing within historic environments became more important as a strategy of urban regeneration (Pendlebury et al. 2004).
This attention to economic potential, the profits of the past, through the rise of the heritage industry are still evident today. Tourism, and the economic gain it brings to historical areas and is one of the main reasons for the conservation of the built environment, causing tourism and conservation to become more and more interdependent (Ashworth and Tunbridge, 1990).
Lowenthal (1997) suggested that our preoccupation with heritage dates from about 1980. He strongly criticised the enormous rise in the number of heritage sites and what he saw as the misuse and misinterpretation of history through heritage. He claimed that we ‘still steal, forge, and invent much of our heritage’ (p. xiii). He sees dangers in what he calls the ‘homogenization of heritage’ too, for example through the continuous rise in the designation of World Heritage Sites: their aims and traits are assessed in similar terms all over the world, threatening neglect of local characteristics and values. Also, tourist-historic cities and towns that have been subjected to large-scale ‘heritage planning’ have been criticised for being more like open-air museums than places where people live out their daily lives. Although often economically successful, these ‘heritage landscapes’ have been condemned for manipulating local identities and commercialising history (Hubbard 1993, p. 360).
According to Ellin (1999), post-modern society is characterised by an infatuation with the past and a longing for security in a progressively more meaningless and intimidating world. She claims that the post-industrial society has brought insecurity, which has caused an impulse towards townscapes of the past, reflected in the architecture and urban design. The rise of neo-traditionalism, an increase of preservation movements, façadism and building of replicas, are a few examples. She argues that the common practice of adaptive reuse, rehabilitation, restoration and renovation are regularly rewriting or reinventing the past since buildings and districts are frequently ‘renovated’ in such a way that it conforms to idealised visions of the past (Ellin 1999, pp. 82-3).
The concepts of sense of place, character and genius loci
These days the concepts of ‘character’ and ‘sense of place’ are widely used in governmental guidance and other literature on conservation, planning and urban design. The most prominent example of this usage within conservation planning in the UK is the ‘character appraisal’ that is required of Local Planning Authorities before a conservation area is designated in England. The character appraisal aims to point out the aspects that make the area what it is, why it is special and in what way it is distinct from its surrounding area. The assessment of an area’s character should, therefore, provide a clear image of its identity and should ultimately lead to and be a justification for the boundaries around the area. In turn, the character identified can lead to the establishment of conservation priorities and the definition of guidelines for development.
‘Character,’ sense of place and also, the idea of genius loci or ‘spirit of place’, serve to demonstrate the psychological meaning and value of conservation and attempt to identify the nature of buildings and areas. What follows below is an overview of how these concepts have been described and used by a range of experts, with regards to conservation and place identity.
Hyderabad, India.
Source: https://pixabay.com/en/hyderabad-india-city-urban-people-2707439/
Sense of place
In the 1970s, with the emergence of humanistic geography, ‘sense of place’ became a well-known object of study, which meant a rediscovery of place studies that conceived the subject of place not as relatively objective points on the earth’s surface, but as a way to rediscover people’s sense of place (see, for example, Townsend 1973). The sense of place came to be defined as ‘how different individuals and groups, within and between places, both interpret and develop meaningful attachments to those specific areas where they live out their lives’ (Castree 2003, p. 170). Subsequently, it had also come to have a somewhat distinct but related meaning exemplified through perception studies by the American environmental theorist Lynch (1960), who claimed that ‘sense of place’ is the extent to which a person can recognize a place as being distinct from other places, having a particular character of its own.
Lynch understood a ‘sense of place’ as the ‘quality of identity’ of a place in the environment (see, for example, Lynch 1960, 1981, Banerjee and Southworth (eds.) 1990). He viewed the concept as a characteristic of a place that is distinctive or memorable and has a high ‘imageability’; ‘that quality in a physical object which gives it a high probability of evoking a strong image in any given observer’ (Lynch 1960, p. 9). He put a major emphasis on how people experience and perceive the environment and how they ‘sense’ it; using the information he received from interviews, photographs, mental maps etc., Lynch put forward ideas that could serve to improve the environmental experience.
Character
The concept of ‘character’ has always been, and still is, widely used within conservation planning, architecture and urban design and it is central to the protection and maintenance of historic environments. This is, for example, illustrated by the usage of the term within the definition of a UK conservation area as ‘an area of special architectural or historic interest the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance’ (Civic Amenities Act 1967, Section 1). However, although it is evident that character is a concept that is of major importance, the definition of character is less obvious.
Manley and Guise (1998) attempted to make the concept of ‘character’ more specific and more useful in practice and have come up with a diagram that includes sixteen categories that, according to them, contribute to the character of an urban area. Besides the more obvious categories such as architectural style, topography and the age range of buildings, they also include ‘perceptive’ categories such as smells and sounds and the perception of the area by different social groups. They include the historical range of uses in the area, the role of the area in the past and present and the network of spaces. They define character as ‘that quality which emanates from the fusion of topography and built form, geology and traditional building materials, street patterns, and the grain and boundaries which reflect past ownerships’ (p. 72).
Talinn, Estonia.
Source: https://pixabay.com/en/tallinn-estonia-city-tower-church-3621296/
Kropf (1996) identified the practical importance of the concept of character and had proposed a framework to identify and describe the physical characteristics that contribute to the character of towns. He puts forward a hierarchy of components within the townscape in a fusion of the geographer Conzen’s work and that of some architects. Urban tissue is of major importance, forming a synthesis of all of these components and providing a basis for differentiating and describing the physically distinct areas of towns. The resulting report forms a starting point for describing the character. Moreover, Kropf points out that the analysis that identifies urban tissue at the same time also identifies historically distinct areas. This is because the growth of towns tends to occur in practically distinct phases and, in turn, areas developed in a given phase tend to be built up in a more or less consistent way. He argues that changes due to transformations tend to occur at variable rates at different levels of resolution, and by doing so, he adheres to Conzen’s idea of form persistence (see, for example, Conzen, 1975, p. 79). Through geometrical analysis and chronological comparative analysis, the concepts of urban tissue and the hierarchy of components describe the character. However, Kropf does state some shortcomings in this approach, mentioning amongst others the additional importance of physical context, perception, and activities occurring in a town.
Genius loci
Many writers on urban form, architecture and urban design have discussed the issue of ‘character’ and by doing so have used terms such as ‘sense of place’, ‘spirit of place’ or genius loci. However, they found that these notions have in time become enmeshed, and they pointed out that the ‘sense of place’ is often wrongly referred to as the genius loci, a term that is better translated as the genius, or spirit, of a place. They argued that different authors have had and still have different views of the concept, which is complex and multi-layered (Jivén, Larkham 2003).
The Norwegian architect and phenomenologist Norberg-Schulz (1980) explored places using similar psychological theory to the environmental theorist Kevin Lynch. His ideas were highly influenced by the philosopher Heidegger and his work on existentialism. Norberg-Schulz understood the sense that people have of, and the meanings they attach to, a place as its genius loci. Physical, as well as symbolic and existential values and meanings, play an important part in his explanation of places, but it appears that he ascribed a similar meaning to genius loci as Lynch had given to ‘sense of place’ (Norberg-Schulz 1980).
The Italian architect Aldo Rossi (1982) has also been concerned with the genius loci. He saw the ‘soul of the city’ (p. 7) as the sign of a place and the succession of events in the history of a city as of major importance to shaping this soul, this character. The city itself is, according to Rossi, the locus of the collective memory of its people.
The German geographer Conzen (1966) had taken a similar viewpoint, discussing the concept about the ‘objectivation of the spirit’ of society. In his own words: ‘As form after form is added to the earth’s surface by a socio-geographical group within its area of occupancy or habitat, only some of these forms replacing earlier ones, the whole cultural landscape becomes an ‘objectivation of the spirit’ of society in its own culture context and in the historical context of its area’ (Conzen 1966, p. 57). The landscape thus acquires its specific genius loci, which he also describes as its ‘culture- and history-conditioned character’ (Conzen 1966, p. 57), which reflects not only the work and aspirations of its current occupying society but also that of its precursors. The genius loci represent, according to Conzen, an important environmental experience even when it is perceived unconsciously. Through its particular form or gestalt, the townscape affects us in three ways. First, it causes us to create a mental map for orientation; second, we experience an emotional response to its aesthetics; and third, the experience epitomizes the townscape’s complete socio-cultural context, situating us in space and time (Conzen 1975, p. 82).
Conclusion
The exploration of the evolution of conservation and the rise of interest in the historical environment in the post-war and post-modern periods has illustrated some of the criticisms of developments that occurred within historical environments, which were at their height in the 1950s and 1960s. The Townscape Movement was a significant instigator of attempts to deal with these developments. The post-modern period similarly produced many criticisms, of the heritage industry, of the ‘Disneyfication’ of townscape and the misuse of the past in regeneration schemes. It has become clear that, despite the great significance that is currently attached to the quality of historical townscapes, as well as to the related processes of regeneration and redevelopment, there is a need for a sound theoretical basis for policies.
Concepts of ‘character’, ‘sense of place’ and ‘genius loci’ often turn up in policy documents concerned with the built environment, but their meaning often remains unclear. The previous exploration of the terms has lifted some of this veil of mystery. There still appears to be a gap between the meaning of these concepts and their practical significance and possible application in planning. In particular where the assessment or delineation on the ground of the elusive concept of ‘character’ or ‘sense of place’ is concerned. The discussion of Kropf’s (1996) exploration of a method to define townscape character has shown that the study of urban morphology has potential, specifically for the delimitation of areas, including conservation areas, character assessment and heritage management.
A more recent attempt to integrate a historic urban landscape approach into development plans, indicating the value of the discussion above today, has been made by UNESCO (2011) with the introduction of the HUL (Historic Urban Landscape) approach. Aimed at bringing together all stakeholders at different levels, from local to national, the approach intends to identify and protect the historic layering and balance of cultural and natural values in urban environments. It shows that the discussion on how to define and value our urban heritage is still very relevant today, even though we live in a time of unprecedented urban development and an ever increasing number of people dwelling in cities worldwide.
This article draws upon the unpublished PhD thesis: Morphological concepts and urban landscape management, the cases of Alkmaar and Bromsgrove (Bienstman 2007, University of Birmingham).
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