Heterotopia and heritage preservation : the heterotopic tool as a means of heritage assessment

This book approaches the field of built heritage and its practices by employing the concept of heterotopia, established by the French philosopher Michel Foucault. The fundamental understandings of heritage, its evolution and practices all reveal intrinsic heterotopic features (the mirror function, its utopic drive, and its enclave-like nature). The book draws on previous interpretations of heterotopia and argues for a reading of heritage as heterotopia, considering various heritage mechanisms – heritage selection, conservation and protection practices, and heritage as mnemonic device – in this regard. Reworking the six heterotopic principles, an analysis grid is designed and applied to various built heritage spaces (vernacular, religious architecture, urban 19th century ensembles). Guided through this theoretical itinerary, the reader will rediscover the heterotopic lens as a minor, yet promising, Foucauldian device that allows for a better understanding of heritage and its everyday practices. "This book approaches the field of built heritage and its practices by employing the concept of heterotopia, established by the French philosophy Michel Foucault. The fundamental understandings of heritage, its evolution and practices all reveal intrinsic heterotopic features (the mirror function, its utopic drive, and its enclave-like nature). The book draws on previous interpretations of heterotopia and argues for a reading of heritage as heterotopia, considering various heritage mechanisms - heritage selection, conservation and protection practices, and heritage as mnemonic device - in this regard. Reworking the six heterotopic principles, an analysis grid is designed and applied to various built heritage spaces (vernacular, religious architecture, urban 19th century ensembles). Guided through this theoretical itinerary, the reader will rediscover the heterotopic lens as a minor yet promising Foucauldian device that allows a better understanding of heritage and its everyday practices"--Back cover Front Matter ....Pages i-x Introduction (Smaranda Spanu)....Pages 1-3 Heterotopia and the Utopian Project (Smaranda Spanu)....Pages 5-150 The Heterotopic Character and the Function (Smaranda Spanu)....Pages 151-238 Architecture and the Heterotopic Concept (Smaranda Spanu)....Pages 239-386 Heritage as a Heterotopic Space. The Tertiary Character and the Hybrid Characteristic as Arguments of Its Heterotopic Character (Smaranda Spanu)....Pages 387-419 Case Study (Smaranda Spanu)....Pages 421-470 Conclusions (Smaranda Spanu)....Pages 471-477 Back Matter ....Pages 479-483