Values in Cities: Urban Heritage in Twentieth-Century Australia (Routledge Advances in Urban History)

Examining urban heritage in twentieth-century Australia, James Lesh reveals how evolving ideas of value and significance shaped cities and places. Over decades, a growing number of sites and areas were found to be valuable by communities and professionals. Places perceived to have value were often conserved. Places perceived to lack value became subject to modernisation, redevelopment, and renewal. From the 1970s, alongside strengthened activism and legislation, with the innovative Burra Charter (1979), the values-based model emerged for managing the aesthetic, historic, scientific, and social significance of historic environments. Values thus transitioned from an implicit to an overt component of urban, architectural, and planning conservation. The field of conservation became a noted profession and discipline. Conservation also had a broader role in celebrating the Australian nation and in reconciling settler colonialism for the twentieth century. Integrating urban history and heritage studies, this book provides the first longitudinal study of the twentieth-century Australian heritage movement. It advocates for innovative and reflexive modes of heritage practice responsive to urban, social, and environmental imperatives. As the values-based model continues to shape conservation worldwide, this book is an essential reference for researchers, students, and practitioners concerned with the past and future of cities and heritage. The Foreword and Chapter 1/Introduction of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at [www.routledge.com](https://www.routledge.com). It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements Foreword Chapter 1: Introduction: Conservation, Cities, and Values Australia’s Heritage Cities Conservation in Twentieth-century Australia Notes Chapter 2: Settler-Colonial Foundations, 1900s–30s Australia’s Nineteenth-Century Cities Enthusiasts Architecture Planning Legacies Notes Chapter 3: The Establishment of the National Trust, 1940s–60s Establishment Promotion and Advocacy Identification and Classification Legacies Notes Chapter 4: The Modern Field, 1950s–60s Modernism and Cities Architecture Planning National Policy-making Legacies Notes Chapter 5: The Heritage Movement, 1960s–70s Changing Cities Heritage Movement Battlegrounds Conservation Transitions Legacies Notes Chapter 6: National Estate Visions, 1970s Genealogies The Inquiry New Policy Directions Priorities Legacies Notes Chapter 7: Professionalisation and the Burra Charter, 1970s Australia and the Venice Charter, 1964 Remaking the Field, 1973–75 Challenges in the Field, 1975–76 Establishing Australia ICOMOS, 1976–78 From Guidelines to Charter, 1978–79 Adopting the Burra Charter, 1979– Legacies Notes Chapter 8: Frameworks, Tools, Criteria, 1980s–90s Adopting Frameworks Refining Values Archaeology and Scientific Value Architecture and Aesthetic Value History and Historic Value Social Value Management Tools and Documentation Standardising Criteria Legacies Notes Chapter 9: Changing Cities, Evolving Values, 1980s–90s Neoliberalism and Postmodernism City Centres Residential Areas ‘Heritage Mafia’ Revising the Burra Charter (1999) Legacies Notes Chapter 10: Conclusion: The Past and Future of Conservation Evolutions in Conservation Legacies Notes Afterword Index "This multidisciplinary study integrates the disciplines of urban and public history, historic preservation, and critical heritage studies to explore urban, architectural and planning conservation in twentieth-century Australia. It examines the professional, governance, management, community, and intellectual processes, which transitioned values from the implied to the primary lens for assessing, managing, and interpreting heritage places. The aesthetic, architectural, historic, and social values attributed to existing settler-colonial urban environments shaped twentieth-century cities, whether modernisation, development and renewal, or retention, adaptation, and conservation. The book surveys the establishment of the Australian profession and the academic discipline of conservation, alongside architectural discourse and planning policy, and the heritage movement and community activism involving the National Trusts, resident bodies, and construction unions. A watershed for global conservation was symbolised by the development of the Australian values-based model and the ICOMOS Burra Charter (1979), national conservation guidelines based on the Venice Charter (1964). As the values-based model continues to shape conservation in Australia and across the world, this book is an essential reference for architecture, planning, construction, engineering, real estate, geography, archaeology, anthropology, and history"-- Provided by publisher This benchmark study in architectural, urban, and planning heritage conservation offers the first extended study of the professional, governance, management, and community processes, which addressed the growing value attributed to the urban historic environment.