Place and heritage conservation

In the professional field of heritage conservation, ‘place’ has a distinctive meaning. This chapter explores how the concept of ‘place’ has been deployed within conservation practice by architects, planners, consultants and policymakers. With reference to international heritage charters including the 1994 Nara Document on Authenticity and the 2009 Quebec City Declaration on the Preservation of the Spirit of Place, the focus is Australia where ‘place’ most forcefully entered the conservation lexicon via the 1979 Burra Charter. Key tensions around the concept of ‘place’ in conservation are investigated, including disconnections between heritage thought and practice, and the artificial distinction between ‘tangible’ and ‘intangible’ place heritage.