Narrative Theory in Conservation Change and Living Buildings

Narrative Theory in Conservation engages with conservation, heritage studies, and architectural approaches to historic buildings, offering a synthesis of the best of each, and demonstrating that conservation is capable of developing a complementary, but distinct, theoretical position of its own. Tracing the ideas behind the development of modern conservation in the West, and considering the challenges presented by non-Western practice, the book engages with the premodern understanding of innovation within tradition, and frames historic buildings as intergenerational, communal, ongoing narratives. Redefining the appropriate object of conservation, it suggests a practice of conserving the questions that animate and energize local cultures, rather than only those instantiated answers that expert opinion has declared canonical. Proposing a narrative approach to historic buildings, the book provides a distinctive new theoretical foundation for conservation, and a basis for a more equal dialogue with other disciplines concerned with the historic environment. Narrative Theory in Conservation articulates a coherent theoretical position for conservation that addresses the urgent question of how historic buildings that remain in use should respond to change. As such, the book should be of great interest to academics, researchers, and postgraduate students from the fields of conservation, heritage studies, and architecture.

List of FiguresPreface and AcknowledgementsList of Abbreviations1. Context: people and change in conservation1.1 Beating the bounds: the scope of the argumentThe question of living buildingsFixity, fluidity and the problem of changeBuildings as peopleFraming conservation as applied ethics1.2 Conservation as ‘making’ and ‘keeping’Conservation, preservation and monumentsSignificance and values in the contemporary conservation framework A new heritage paradigm?1.3 Wider heritage concernsHeritage studiesAgency and material vitality1.4 Structure of the book2. Modernity: conservation, discontinuity and the past2.1 The development of conservationRestorationReconstruction2.2 Modernity and the past2.3 But is it art? – non-aesthetic interpretationRomantic and classical approaches to hermeneuticsGenius and authorship2.4 Waking up to contextCultural landscape and the palimpsestConclusionCase Study: Carlo Scarpa, William Morris and the Castelvecchio, VeronaBackgroundMurphy on MorrisThe instructive relicExtending the narrative3. People: community, language and power3.1 Where are the people?Experts, universalism and the localIntangible heritageThe uses of intangibilityPeople and social valueHeritage as discourseCommunity discourse3.2 Living heritageEnglish parish churchesConclusionCase Study: St Alkmund, Duffield and the ecclesiastical exemptionParish churches and the Faculty Jurisdiction systemThe case of St Alkmund, DuffieldCritiquing the original judgmentJustification and enhancementTheology and communityConclusion4. Tradition: change and continuity4.1 Modernity, tradition and continuityTradition and conservatismTradition and the canon4.2 HermeneuticsGadamer and traditionThe fusion of horizonsUnderstanding the other4.3 Virtue ethicsMacIntyre’s contributionThe vitality of traditionConclusion5. Narrative: time, history and what happens next5.1 TemporalityHistory and transitionDouble temporality5.2 NarrativityThe nature of narrativeIdentityCommunity and the fitness of narrativity5.3 The relevance of narrative for conservationThe central metaphorBenefits of the narrative modelConclusion6. Application: the narrative approach to conservation6.1 Questions of principleExplanatory competitionThe cultural wholeContinuity of characterCompleted narratives6.2 Questions of everyday practiceSignificanceReversibilityExpendabilityCraftsmanship6.3 Questions of meta-practice‘Who need experts?’People powerDifficult heritageRestoration6.4 Compatibility with traditionCase Study: The SCARAB ManifestoContextThe text of the ManifestoPreambleAncient buildings exude LIFEAncient buildings expect CHANGEAncient buildings embody TRADITIONAncient buildings form COMMUNITY7. Conclusion: conservation ‘as if people mattered’Conservation futuresHistory in the gapHybridity and the via mediaIndex

Nigel Walter is a Specialist Conservation Architect based in Cambridge, UK, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and a member of two ICOMOS International Scientific Committees. He specialises in living heritage, combining practice with research, and holds a PhD in conservation of historic buildings.