Khoshnood, Sahar (2019)
Cities, towards Missing Identities? Synergy Management of Sustainable Protection and Use of Cultural Urban Heritage in the Context of Global Change - the case of Tehran.
Technische Universität Darmstadt
Dissertation, Erstveröffentlichung

Kurzbeschreibung (Abstract)

On a global scale, the complex interrelationships between cultural identity and heritage have for long been a topic of interest to many urban scholars. Tracing back ‘the modern concept of heritage’, which certainly emerged from a European context, one could track the expansion of its notions within an over three-century time span. There has been more recently a growing trend toward alternative perceptions of cultural heritage with a fresh interest in the nonmaterial aspects of the matter. Such shift in the general view started to partly turn the focus away from the material past, and with that triggered off some debates around what matters more. This is while, very often, newer definitions of heritage are either undertheorized or less dived into by academics and largely neglected by practitioners. That is partly why heritage studies have newly found itself at a turning point where many critical arguments thus arisen. This research, therefore, touches upon the challenges that reconceptualization of cultural heritage entails in terms of urban management.

On the theoretical level, inspired by the concept of intangible cultural heritage, this research works on ‘meanings’ of urban heritage while looking into historical neighborhoods of the case of Tehran. By exploring the relationships between people and place, the research offers a deeper insight on some of the overlooked qualities that actually make up the character or essence of those urban areas. They could be best described as qualities with some sort of nonmaterial nature or nontangible connotation, no matter whether they stem from tangible things or intangible things. The primary aim is to build up to a more flexible and less predetermined view on what should and what should not be considered as worthwhile when it comes to heritages of urban areas for their people and communities. On the empirical level, in reference to the typically differing motives for heritage conservation and urban development, this research brings attention to the major changes which resulted from intervention practices in the case of Tehran’s historical center. While observing Iran’s contemporary political economy, the research argues why and how dynamics of city planning in Tehran rather knowingly overlooked historical neighborhoods until very recently, if not still. So, the idea is to, from one angle, find out the mindset behind some of the actual practices carried out by relevant administration and operation agencies which have been planned and designed by professionals; and, from the other angle, indicate why the locals’ viewpoints on the places they hold dear or even not are increasingly part of urban heritage studies. In addition to on field empirical study and desk research on secondary data resources, this research makes use of semi structured interviews conducted with a number of experts and national/local authorities involved in Iran/Tehran’s heritage management as well as informal conversations with individuals and groups of ordinary people.

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