IHBC Yearbook 2015

R E V I E W 27 UNDERSTANDING PLACE SUSTAINING SALTAIRE FOR THE FUTURE JO LINTONBON For more than half a century, academic literature has recognised that diversity of place is central to the long-term viability and sustainability of an area. For example, the journalist and activist Jane Jacobs (see recommended reading) wrote memorably about the social value of streets, highlighting the fact that a variety of activities and economic functions encouraged continued animation throughout day and evening. She promoted places that were densely inhabited with a fine architectural grain, permeable to pedestrians and made up of buildings that were diverse in terms of age and condition – urban infrastructures that were robust in accommodating change as part of a normal renewal process and the opposite of the bland monoculture of an overly staged environment. Valuing place has also emerged more critically in conservation discourse, with a widening appreciation of the economic and social contribution made by the historic built environment, broader recognition of what constitutes heritage in terms of meaning and identity, and the impetus of conservation-led regeneration and the sensitive management of change. The contribution that local people make to place at a grassroots level has permeated this discourse, and there is now a general acceptance in planning and urban renewal literatures that dialogue and participation at a local level engender a more nuanced understanding of place and a more inclusive approach to designing the built environment. Conservation management planning provides a framework to evaluate the significance of heritage across a range of social and cultural values and to consider its contribution to context and sense of place, physically, socially and economically. This promotes a conservation process focussed not only on understanding and managing significance but also on engaging local people in decision-making about their own neighbourhoods within a normal urban development cycle of continuity and change. This poses several challenges for the heritage professional: identifying and bringing together a representative stakeholder group which can help shape a greater understanding of place, reaching out to the wider community, and supporting an informed debate around safeguarding heritage and the opportunities for sustainable regeneration. At the world heritage site (WHS) of Saltaire in West Yorkshire, engaging with stakeholders has been a central ambition in the first revision of its management plan since the site’s inscription on the World Heritage List in 2001. The new management plan is due to be formally adopted by Bradford Metropolitan District Council and launched in Spring 2015. It therefore seems timely to reflect on the nature of the development process of this important instrument for managing change, particularly in the context of Saltaire’s heritage status as a complex urban site. Salts Mill, Saltaire (Lockwood and Mawson, 1851–53): the Grade II* listed mill, once the largest industrial building in the world, was purchased by Bradford entrepreneur Jonathan Silver in 1987 and transformed into an arts, leisure and business complex.

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