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Only recently have historic concrete buildings received attention and the need for their protection has been understood. Their listing as architectural heritage in most countries is ruled by legislations. The research carried out within the framework of the CONSECH20 JPI project on the conservation of historic concrete buildings in the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Italy and the Netherlands has allowed to study the legislations in the four aforementioned countries and how these are brought to practice. This paper aims at the evaluation of these legislations and of their function in practice.

The legislations have been examined focussing on the protection of historic buildings and the guidelines to achieve a correct technical conservation. These were assessed in practical situations. The situations of the four countries were studied and the parameters used allowed comparisons.

Concrete buildings are at risk and the guidelines should be further developed to meet actual conservation needs, including historical and aesthetical compatibility. The re-use of listed concrete buildings often means transforming and adapting these to a variety of modern needs and norms: the complexity of this assignment asks for a multidisciplinary teamwork. The bottom-up Dutch programme for quality in conservation, striving to bring ethical and technological principles to practice, could be a sound basis for developing respectful conservation strategies of heritage concrete buildings.

The research concerns the four countries involved in the CONSECH30 project and could be extended to include more countries.

More stakeholders have to be involved in the process of conservation and transformation of heritage concrete buildings. This should be directed by the legislation.

No direct social implications are foreseen from the outcome of the research. However, the suggestion is made that social involvement is essential in planning concrete building transformations.

The study focussed on the application of theory (the legislation) to practice (thus showing the limits of the legislation), which is an innovative way of contributing to the conservation of historic concrete buildings.

This paper aims to examine the management status quo of archaeological heritage in Vietnam seen in the case of Vuon Chuoi, a complex of Bronze Age sites located in Central Hanoi, which has been believed to be Hanoi’s first human settlement. Like other archaeological sites located in urban areas, this site has been under threat of destruction caused by land encroachment pressure. Although researchers have long waged a campaign for preservation, the dissensus among key stakeholders and the dispute over responsibility have left this site at the heart of an interminable polemic over legislation.

This research utilises a qualitative approach, and the primary data were collected throughout multiple field trips in 2019 and 2020. Several open-ended interviews were conducted with various state and nonstate actors involved in the Vuon Chuoi Complex’s management process. The discussion was also supported by analysing related legal documents retrieved from national archives and official online directories.

This paper dissects the current legislative and administrative framework applied in governing heritage in general and archaeological sites in Vietnam, in particular. The results indicate that existing flaws in Vietnam’s legal system are detectable, and the unsystematic organisation has led to deferment of the decision-making processes. Also, there is an apparent difference found in the attitude of the bodies in charge toward the treatment of listed and unlisted sites.

This research outlines that in the wake of urbanisation and industrialisation in Vietnam, a consensus among key stakeholders and an inclusive legal system are required to help preserve archaeological sites in urgent need of attention. Although several Vietnamese laws and regulations have been put into practice, they have shown critical barriers and gaps in conserving Vietnamese cultural heritage.

Australia appears to be encountering a crisis in the protection of certain heritage places, despite its strong reputation in heritage conservation built up since the 1970s. Consequently, this paper examines changes to national cultural heritage management policy over the last few decades to understand more about this crisis.

Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage) was selected as the key focus. This paper applies a cultural heritage management framework tested first in Hong Kong to measure Australian paradigm change over 45 years.

It found the 1990s shift away from the provision of independent technical advice on national heritage policy has had a major impact. This shift is based on a change in ethos away from the earlier Whitlam/National Estate broader vision of heritage responsibilities towards a narrower more conservative one at the national level. Also, it found that studies and policymaking should allow for Indigenous voices. More Indigenous input in heritage policy formulation at all levels of government would further decolonise Indigenous heritage governance to deal justly with Indigenous Australians and their heritage.

Resources did not allow for comparative studies of the non-Indigenous (historic) and natural heritage as part of the current study.

The study also included a consultation paper and an online conference presentation that have raised questions about the efficacy of current national policy on Indigenous places, on which a national conversation is urgently needed. The recent review of the National Heritage Strategy by the Australian Commonwealth Government based some of its proposed options on those listed in the consultation paper to initiate this conversation in a limited way.

One finding is that attention to heritage policy and protection must be ongoing at all levels of government and inclusive of First People's human rights, particularly those concerning their heritage. In regard to Australia, most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents in this study would like to see targeted funding return for more than just iconic Indigenous places and for the creation of a more independent heritage body that allows them more self-determination in the care of their heritage.

The paper's value is that it investigates the Australian Heritage Commission's impact in the development of Australian cultural heritage management and associated national policy. Also, it provides insights for other postcolonial or New World settler societies dealing with the same issues or any decision-makers considering establishing a national independent body to oversee heritage protection and policymaking.

In 2020, mining activity by Rio Tinto destroyed rock caves in Western Australia's Juukan Gorge that are considered sacred sites by the First Nation Peoples of that area, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) Peoples. This paper examines the public response to the damage caused at this culturally sensitive site and identifies cultural heritage protection strategies that emerged in the aftermath of this catastrophic event.

This research applies a qualitative case study method and analysis of open-sourced official policy documents, media reports and published institutional statements.

The research identified specific cultural heritage protection strategies, including stakeholder-driven advocacy and shared values approach to business practices to help foster a greater appreciation of the connections between people, objects and lands. Whilst the mining activities were considered lawful, significant gaps in the legislation to protect heritage sites were also exposed.

Using a recent case that occurred in 2020, this paper unpacks how the motivations for accessing minerals can override cultural sensibilities and legal/ethical frameworks established to protect cultural heritage. This paper brings to light the liabilities associated with the mining industry when operating in a culturally significant environment where appropriate due diligence to manage cultural heritage is not thoroughly applied. The paper highlights the role the community can play in demanding improved corporate social responsibility which can, in turn, act as a strategy for cultural heritage protection.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and discuss the application of buffer zones as an urban landscape heritage management tool, using Rio de Janeiro as the main case study, in order to inform urban regulation around the sites inscribed as World Heritage Cultural Landscape and disclose its relevance to link urban planning, cultural heritage management and sustainable development.

The methodological approach encompasses: conceptual framework – contextualization of heritage protection theory, focusing on landscape protection and buffer zones; discussion: cross-national comparative overview of buffer zones conceptual framework on the international heritage protection policy; historical background and spatial analysis, through GIS mapping, of local heritage protection policy, tracing its evolution through time; examination of prospects and challenges of this management tool, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, based on previous international, local experiences on natural and cultural heritage protection; and gathering of strategies for the implementation of buffer zones in local landscape management.

Core heritage sites and their buffer zones are integrated elements and act together to protect landscape significance and dynamic integrity (DI). In Rio de Janeiro, beyond the function of a caution zone, other important functions of landscape heritage buffer zones are to guarantee spatial and social connections of the protected sites, as well as the visual relationship between them and other significant urban landscape features. Strategies for the implementation of buffer zones in local landscape management should address the articulation of landscape protection governance; the conservation of visual, functional and structural identity quality and legibility and the monitoring of DI.

The methodology approach adopted in this study may also benefit from and foster further investigations, which could include the elaboration of a landscape management plan and an impact assessment inventory, refining the scale of study to the level of local watersheds, and a deeper examination of the popular cultural imprints within the World Heritage property buffer zone.

Strategies to the implementation of the Carioca Landscapes buffer zone include a gradation of protection and control of impacts according to the distance of the core sites (in the form of rings or layers). The buffer zone should help to preserve the character, significance, and DI of the protected sites and guarantee their spatial and social connections, as well as the visual and functional relationship between them and between other significant landscape features of the city. All those management strategies should be founded on the elaboration of a broad urban landscape management plan with the local society involvement.

In Rio de Janeiro’s specific case, bridging the vision of culture and nature as opposite poles and, transcending the social segregation through community involvement should certainly be among the main guiding principles to the application of buffer zones for supporting landscape sustainability. Therefore, the establishment of regulation criteria and parameters within the limits of the buffer zone must acknowledge that the (urban) landscape should carefully articulate the different social agent visions and local urban contexts.

The main contribution of this paper is to gather different visions of the role of buffer zones and disclose possibilities of conciliation between theory and practice concerning landscape protection, arguing for gathering natural and cultural heritage policies into the urban planning processes. Harnessed together, the suggested buffer zone implementation strategies may provide a proactive approach to Rio’s urban landscape protection and contribute to foster landscape sustainability and resilience. Although based on a specific case study, the adopted methodological approach may be transferable, with some adjustments, to other World Heritage properties, especially those located in urban areas under development pressures.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the current conservation state of colonial-era ecclesiastical buildings in Yorubaland (South-Western Nigeria) and the mechanics of their upkeep. The article also discusses the parameters of formulating a balanced protection-use model for the management of these buildings.

This study adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining participatory observations and documentation, semi-structured interviews and the review of church compendiums. Forty-four church buildings were identified and surveyed, and sixty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted.

A gradual change in how communities value colonial-era churches in contrast to other structures with ecclesiastical legacies has been identified. The challenges and threats to their protection are investigated, revealing a variety of contextual constraints in the current management structure, which prioritizes the expansion of useful space over the conservation of the original fabric, often resulting in extreme modifications. However, there are also opportunities in the current system that could be mobilized to resource a self-sustaining conservation management practice, based on a mutually developed protection-use balance.

Heritage policy has not directly addressed the management of ecclesiastical buildings erected during the modern colonial era. This paper is the first in-depth investigation of colonial-era religious structures in the Nigerian context, and one of the few, if not the first, in a former African colonial nation.

The region of Guelma, located in the northeast of Algeria, is characterised by its important natural and cultural heritage. This heritage is ignored and abandoned, which leads to its degradation and even its disappearance. Thus, it is imperative to seek to know and understand the reasons for this situation. This study aims to reveal the constraints of heritage promotion and its staging through its insertion in the development process.

A hypothetical–deductive approach based on a qualitative method using surveys was carried out on the knowledge of the heritage of Guelma by the actors concerned. The laws and classification procedures were interpreted to identify the heritage's stakes to ensure sustainable local development through tourism.

The results show the lack of recognition of the natural and cultural heritage by the region's population, the cumbersome, long and complex classification procedure. The weakness of the offer in terms of tourist infrastructures constitutes a handicap to the valorisation of the heritage and prevents the enhancement and development of tourism. Systematically, heritage does not contribute to the local and territorial development of the Guelma region.

The article underlines the importance of raising awareness among the various heritage stakeholders and actors, and first, the population, of the value of their natural and cultural heritage to make it profitable and a driving force for local and territorial development.

Within the past ten years Canada has experienced a renewed interest in its architectural past. Whether part of an international trend toward architectural conservation (witness European Architectural Heritage Year, 1976), or part of a general reappraisal of all things Canadian and the development of a sense of nationalism, or the realization, painful as it may be, that the character of the urban landscape is quickly losing its familiar character, this renewed interest in our architectural heritage has surfaced, and is manifesting its presence in many ways. To any who would doubt the existence of a Canadian architectural heritage, or would quarrel with its worth, one has only to turn to Alan Gowans' prefatory remarks to his Building Canada: An Architectural History of Canadian Life:

Providing accessible and inclusive environments fulfils legislative obligations and creates financial benefits. Historic-listed buildings rely on heritage tourism for continued financial support. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how historic-listed buildings adapt to afford access to people with disabilities (PwD), through physical and non-physical interventions.

Using a case study approach of an historic property, research comprises of: an observational visitor survey, determining visitor demographic regarding visible disabilities; an access audit, determining current accessibility; interviews with the property’s Access Team; and desktop-based research.

The results depict the complexity, challenges and barriers in making historic buildings accessible for PwD. Through alternative training and inclusive initiatives, the findings reveal how historic buildings may support the multiplicity of individuals’ access requirements.

Further research incorporating longer surveying periods, wider demographic of interviewees and multiple case study analysis would provide richer, comparable data in understanding the intrinsic complexities involved in creating accessibility within historic buildings. The implications of this research could transcend management, conservation and adaptation of listed buildings in identifying the defined barriers and solutions to overcome them.

The originality of this paper relates to the use of alternative services creating access when physical changes are deemed “unreasonable”. A conceptual framework is developed depicting the complexity, challenges and barriers in making historic buildings accessible for PwD.

The traditional courtyard shophouses modifications, alterations and deterioration over the years have become a source of concern to major stakeholders. In George Town World Heritage Site Malaysia, studies have shown that the worst hit among its various shophouses are the Straits Chinese traditional courtyard eclectic style shophouses. This paper investigates the traditional courtyard shophouses concerning the role of architectural formation design components, and how this can sustain the place identity of the Straits Chinese typology.

The methodological approach regards the collection of data and analysis of 30 face-to-face interviews and the observation of Lots number 3, 5 and 7, located along Lorong Ikan, George Town World Heritage Site.

It was found that these Lots express the place identity of the Straits Chinese, and its major exterior architecture components to be observed are the column head (Chi Tou) capital, parapet wall, bressummer beam and ionic column, and gable and gable ends.

This paper is limited to the role of architectural formation design components. Future research is needed to expand the scope of participant elements via a quantitative approach. This will enhance the validation of findings from this paper.

It is recommended the use of the proposed checklist to enhance the sustainability of the architectural components regarding the place identity of these styles of shophouses, which provides salutary lessons on how to preserve the heritage buildings. Also, major stakeholders with leading evidence from relevant government agencies should ensure the preservation of these cultural and heritage buildings for the next generation.

This paper found that the family beliefs and social impact were the components that express the place identity of the Straits Chinese.

This paper demonstrates that the role of architectural formation design components regarding place identity of Straits Chinese traditional courtyard eclectic style shophouses cannot be over-emphasised.