Why Do Historic Places Matter? Emotional Attachments to Urban Heritage

The significance of heritage and its potential to contribute to a range of public policy agendas is now acknowledged in Scotland and internationally. But despite the role of emotion becoming an increasingly influential theme within heritage studies, the heritage sector has not yet fully evidenced the reasons why the past matters emotionally to a range of individuals. These emotional attachments are often latent but can be unlocked at times of change. So key questions for this project are, how, and to what extent, are emotional attachments to place considered during the designation and management of historic urban assets? The project focuses on several case studies. The findings have emerged from the textual and visual analysis of a range of existing archival documents and from place-based oral histories and emoji-based workshops which captured the thoughts and feelings of people involved with and/or impacted by urban change, including built environment professionals and local residents. The evidence comes from Scottish and English towns and cities and predominantly covers the period from 1975 to 2019. This data was analysed to explore the extent and the reasons why the past matters to a range of individuals, including heritage professionals, non-heritage professionals, and people, such as residents and activists, who are embedded within their local historic urban environment.