Decoding Cultural Landscapes: Guiding Principles for the Management of Interpretation in Cultural World Heritage Sites
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DECODING CULTURAL LANDSCAPES: GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF INTERPRETATION IN CULTURAL WORLD HERITAGE SITES EHAB KAMEL, B.Sc., M.Sc. Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy February 2011 .. To my beloved country, Egypt, and to a great generation that showed an unbelievable courage, driven by a deep faith in their country and in themselves. In solidarity with the 2011 Egyptian Revolution against dictatorship, injustice, and corruption... you have taught the world how great nations can rise up for their rights... ....Thank you ABSTRACT Conserving the cultural significance of heritage sites - as the guardians of social unity, place identity, and national pride - plays an essential role in maintaining sustainable social development, as well as preserving the variations identifying cultural groups and enriching the interaction between them. Consequently, and considering the importance of the built environment in communicating, as well as documenting, cultural messages, this research project, started in 2007, develops a set of guiding principles for interpretation management, as a process for conserving cultural World Heritage Sites; by maintaining and communicating their cultural significance through managing newly added architectural, urban, and landscape designs to such heritage sites. This research was mainly conducted to investigate and explain a concern regarding a gap that is increasing between people and the cultural heritage contexts they reside- particularly in Egypt- and to suggest a strategy for professionals to understand such sites from a perspective that reflects the public cognition. Adopting Grounded Theory methodology, the research develops a series of principles, which are intended to guide the process of cultural heritage conservation; through a critical analysis of current heritage conservation practices in World Heritage Sites. The research shows how they [the guiding principles] correspond to the contemporary perception of cultural heritage in literature, for which, a thorough discussion of literature, as well as critical analysis of UNESCO’s heritage conventions and ICOMOS charters are carried out. The research raises, discusses, and answers several key questions concerning heritage conservation, such as: whether UNESCO’s conventions target the right heritage or not; the conflicts appearing between heritage conservation documents (conventions and charters); whether intangible heritage can be communicated through design; and the effect of Western heritage ideology on heritage conservation practices. This is carried out through the use of interpretive discourse analysis of literature and heritage documents, and personal site observations and questionnaire surveys carried out in two main World Heritage Sites: Historic Cairo in Egypt and Liverpool city in the UK. The two case studies contributed to the understanding of the general public’s perception of cultural Heritage Sites, and how such perception is reflected in current heritage conservation practices. i The thesis decodes cultural World Heritage Sites into three intersecting levels: the ‘cultural significances’ (or ‘open codes’), which represent different categories under which people perceive historic urban landscapes; the ‘cultural concepts’ (or ‘axial codes’), which are considered as the objectives of heritage conservation practice, and represent the general concepts under which cultural significances influence the heritage interpretation process; and finally, the ‘interpretation strategy tactics’, the UNCAP Strategy (or the ‘selective coding’), which are the five overarching principles guiding the interpretation management process in cultural heritage sites. This strategy, the UNCAP (Understanding people; Narrating the story; Conserving the spirit of place; Architectural engagement; and Preserving the built heritage), developed throughout this research, is intended to help heritage site managers, curators, architects, urban designers, landscape architects, developers, and decision makers to build up a thorough understanding of heritage sites, which should facilitate the establishment of more interpretive management plans for such sites, and enhance the communication of meanings and values of their physical remains, as well as emphasizing the ‘spirit of place’; for achieving socio- cultural sustainability in the development of World Heritage Sites. Keywords: World Heritage Sites, Cultural Heritage, Landscape, Heritage Management, Heritage Conservation, Interpretation, Perception. ii PUBLISHED SECTIONS Part of the content of the research developed as part of this thesis has been presented and published in the following forms: Kamel, E., & Hale, J (2010). Conflicts of Identity, Conservation, and Meaning-Management of Cultural Heritage: Reading through ICOMOS Charters. In S. Lira & R. Amoeda (Eds.), Constructing Intangible Heritage. Barcelos, Portugal: Green Lines Institute for Sustainable Development, pp. 87-99. ISBN 978-989-95671-2-2 [Book-chapter] Kamel, E., Hale, J., & Hanks, L. (2009). The 'Conflict of Interpretations': Physical Conservation versus Storytelling and Meaning- An Analytical Study of WH Convention and ICOMOS Charters. In S. Lira, et al (Eds.), Sharing Cultures 2009 (pp. 201-208). Barcelos, Portugal: Green Lines Institute for Sustainable Development. ISBN 978-989-95671-1-5 [Referred conference proceedings] Kamel, E., & Hanks, L. (2009). 'Towards Self-Interpreting World Heritage Sites: a Proposal of Design Guiding-Principles for the Landscapes of Interpretive Sites.' 12th International Seminar of Forum UNESCO- University and Heritage. Hanoi. [Referred conference proceedings- CD] Kamel, Ehab. “Places Searching for their Stories: The Case of Historic Cairo”. A paper presented at the 1st Annual Conference of Egyptian Scholars in UK and Northern Ireland, London, 15th Oct. 2009 [Best Talk] Kamel, Ehab. “Historic Context and Cultural Content: A Case Study of Historic Cairo”. A paper presented at Conservation: Principles, Dilemmas and Uncomfortable Truths’ Symposium, The Royal Academy of Arts, London, 24-25th Sep. 2009. Kamel, Ehab. “Understanding the World Heritage List’s Selection Criteria: Re-reading the World’s Cultural Heritage Map”. A paper presented at the AESOP 2009- Why Can’t the Future be more like the Past? Conference, Liverpool, 15-18 Jul. 2009. Kamel, Ehab, “A Proposal for an Interactive Interpretive Web Mapping System for Heritage Sites”. A poster presented, and paper submitted, at the ISAAC International Conference: Promoting Cultural Heritage Tourism through Integrated e-Services, Amsterdam, 2nd Jul. 2009. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis would have not been possible without the support of many people. Firstly and mostly, I would like to thank the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education, and my home university, Ain Shams University, in Egypt, who offered me the opportunity to pursue my PhD studies in the United Kingdom by granting me a four-years fully funded PhD scholarship; and to thank the Egyptian Culture Bureau (ECB) for their financial support and their continuous follow-up to my academic progress throughout my period of study and stay in the UK. I would like to thank very much my supervisors Dr Jonathan Hale and Dr Laura Hanks for their constant and illuminating encouragement, advice and support in my research, as well as Dr Stephen Platt and Ms Suzan MacLeod, my Examiners, whom comments helped improving this thesis a lot. Also, I am grateful to The University of Nottingham, especially AHRG (the Architectural Humanities Research Group), the Department of Architecture and Built Environment and the Graduate School; for providing a place of excellence offering an academic environment that contributed to, and enhanced, the build-up of my academic experience. Also, I thank Liz Bromley-Smith, Wang Qi, and Swinal Samant for kindly consider my help for their courses. I would like to thank all my colleague PhD researchers who helped my chairing the PGRS’s (Post-Graduate Research Students) Committee: Joel Chaney, Aneel Kilare, Isin Can, and Blaise Mempouo who gave all time, and effort possible to improve the quality of our research environment, and helped me organize BELTS (the Built Environment Lunch Time Seminars) to improve our academic discussion and interaction in-between us and with the Department’s academic staff as well. Special thanks to Ricardo Martinez, Fidel Avila, Yi-Wen (Rachel) Wang, Isin Can, Fangqing Lu, and Bahar Durmaz- my colleague PhD researchers, whom enriched my research by the continuous specialized discussions in the fields of architectural humanities and social sciences. Last, but not the least, I thank very much my spouse, Amal, and my two lovely children, Nour and Ali, who supported me throughout my study; and shared with me all moments of hardships and stress I went through from the very beginning of my research journey until this thesis has seen the light. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................. i Published Sections ............................................................................. iii Acknowledgments .............................................................................. iv Table of Contents ................................................................................ v List of Figures ................................................................................... vii List of Tables .....................................................................................