Reviewing Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tools through Critical Heritage Studies

Luciane Aguiar Borges, Feras Hammami and Josefin Wangel
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Luciane Aguiar Borges: Nordregio, International Research Centre for Regional Development and Planning, SE-11186 Stockholm, Sweden
Feras Hammami: Department of Conservation, University of Gothenburg, SE-40530 Gothenburg, Sweden
Josefin Wangel: Department of Urban and Rural Development, SLU—Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: This article reports on a critical review of how cultural heritage is addressed in two internationally well-known and used neighborhood assessment tools (NSAs): BREEAM Communities (BREEAM-C) and LEED Neighborhood Design (LEED-ND). The review was done through a discourse analysis in which critical heritage studies, together with a conceptual linking of heritage to sustainability, served as the point of departure. The review showed that while aspects related to heritage are present in both NSAs, heritage is re-presented as primarily being a matter of safeguarding material expressions of culture, such as buildings and other artifacts, while natural elements and immaterial-related practices are disregarded. Moreover, the NSAs institutionalize heritage as a field of formal knowledge and expert-dominated over the informal knowledge of communities.

Keywords: critical heritage; sustainable development; urban sustainability; neighborhood sustainability assessment (NSA); BREEAM-C; LEED-ND (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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