What to Conserve? Heritage, Memory, and Management of Meanings

This Paper explores and criticizes different theories and perceptions concerning ‘cultural heritage’ to explore the definitions of ‘heritage’ throughout history, and questions how the conflicts in considering and identifying ‘heritage’ might have affected the approaches to its conservation. In such process, the paper investigates the relation between ‘place’ and ‘memory’ and how place has been always the medium through which history was written, resulting in two inseparable faces, tangible and the intangible, forming the two-faced coin of ‘cultural heritage’. This research assists understanding the complex construct of heritage places; stressing the growing awareness of intangible heritage’s importance, which represents a remarkable turn in heritage conservation realm in the twenty-first century, and emphasizing the notion of heritage as a coefficient of society, which is understood through experience, learnt through performance, and represented through ‘activities’ formed in the present maintaining and developing the identity of place and preserving its spirit, rather than a past oriented vision that tends to ‘pickle’ images from the past in a picturesque manner that is only tourism-oriented

Conflicts of Identity, Conservation, and Cultural Heritage Meaning Management: Reading through ICOMOS Charters

This book "Constructing Intangible Heritage" gathers a set of articles organised in four chapters, under the thematic of intangible heritage: - Towards the immateriality of heritage; - Conceptualizing intangible heritage; - Intangible heritage and cultural manifestations; - The museology of intangible heritage

Spatial Design Stimuli to Promote Wellness through Buildings’ Design

Mental Health problems are remarkably increasing in the UK, where people are facing di˙erent challenges day after day, including stresses from everyday life. Out of a deep belief that architecture can play a significant role in supporting users’ wellbeing, instead of augmenting their stresses, this paper analyzes an extensive multidisciplinary literature review, of 720 sources, from three di˙erent disciplines: psychology, medicine and architecture. The analyzed literature studies the relationship between users’ wellbeing and the surrounding spatial environment. The investigation aims to identify a set of possible architectural design parameters that can a˙ect users’ psychological wellbeing. The analysis identified fifteen spatial psychologically supportive design stimuli (PSDS); each of them was subject of further procedures of in-depth analysis queries that aim to define their main characteristics, impacts on users’ psychology and wellbeing, and their influences within the design of public buildings. The study aims to benefit the development of psychologically considerate built environment design, as well as identifying potential research routes for future spatial qualitative researches

Decoding cultural landscapes: guiding principles for the management of interpretation in cultural world heritage sites

Conserving the cultural significance of heritage sites - as the guardians of social unity, place identity, and national pride - plays an essential role in maintaining sustainable social development, as well as preserving the variations identifying cultural groups and enriching the interaction between them. Consequently, and considering the importance of the built environment in communicating, as well as documenting, cultural messages, this research project, started in 2007, develops a set of guiding principles for interpretation management, as a process for conserving cultural World Heritage Sites; by maintaining and communicating their cultural significance through managing newly added architectural, urban, and landscape designs to such heritage sites. This research was mainly conducted to investigate and explain a concern regarding a gap that is increasing between people and the cultural heritage contexts they reside- particularly in Egypt- and to suggest a strategy for professionals to understand such sites from a perspective that reflects the public cognition. Adopting Grounded Theory methodology, the research develops a series of principles, which are intended to guide the process of cultural heritage conservation; through a critical analysis of current heritage conservation practices in World Heritage Sites. The research shows how they [the guiding principles] correspond to the contemporary perception of cultural heritage in literature, for which, a thorough discussion of literature, as well as critical analysis of UNESCO’s heritage conventions and ICOMOS charters are carried out. The research raises, discusses, and answers several key questions concerning heritage conservation, such as: whether UNESCO’s conventions target the right heritage or not; the conflicts appearing between heritage conservation documents (conventions and charters); whether intangible heritage can be communicated through design; and the effect of Western heritage ideology on heritage conservation practices. This is carried out through the use of interpretive discourse analysis of literature and heritage documents, and personal site observations and questionnaire surveys carried out in two main World Heritage Sites: Historic Cairo in Egypt and Liverpool city in the UK. The two case studies contributed to the understanding of the general public’s perception of cultural Heritage Sites, and how such perception is reflected in current heritage conservation practices. The thesis decodes cultural World Heritage Sites into three intersecting levels: the ‘cultural significances’ (or ‘open codes’), which represent different categories under which people perceive historic urban landscapes; the ‘cultural concepts’ (or ‘axial codes’), which are considered as the objectives of heritage conservation practice, and represent the general concepts under which cultural significances influence the heritage interpretation process; and finally, the ‘interpretation strategy tactics’, the UNCAP Strategy (or the ‘selective coding’), which are the five overarching principles guiding the interpretation management process in cultural heritage sites. This strategy, the UNCAP (Understanding people; Narrating the story; Conserving the spirit of place; Architectural engagement; and Preserving the built heritage), developed throughout this research, is intended to help heritage site managers, curators, architects, urban designers, landscape architects, developers, and decision makers to build up a thorough understanding of heritage sites, which should facilitate the establishment of more interpretive management plans for such sites, and enhance the communication of meanings and values of their physical remains, as well as emphasizing the ‘spirit of place’; for achieving socio-cultural sustainability in the development of World Heritage Sites

Decoding cultural landscapes: guiding principles for the management of interpretation in cultural world heritage sites

Conserving the cultural significance of heritage sites - as the guardians of social unity, place identity, and national pride - plays an essential role in maintaining sustainable social development, as well as preserving the variations identifying cultural groups and enriching the interaction between them. Consequently, and considering the importance of the built environment in communicating, as well as documenting, cultural messages, this research project, started in 2007, develops a set of guiding principles for interpretation management, as a process for conserving cultural World Heritage Sites; by maintaining and communicating their cultural significance through managing newly added architectural, urban, and landscape designs to such heritage sites. This research was mainly conducted to investigate and explain a concern regarding a gap that is increasing between people and the cultural heritage contexts they reside- particularly in Egypt- and to suggest a strategy for professionals to understand such sites from a perspective that reflects the public cognition. Adopting Grounded Theory methodology, the research develops a series of principles, which are intended to guide the process of cultural heritage conservation; through a critical analysis of current heritage conservation practices in World Heritage Sites. The research shows how they [the guiding principles] correspond to the contemporary perception of cultural heritage in literature, for which, a thorough discussion of literature, as well as critical analysis of UNESCO’s heritage conventions and ICOMOS charters are carried out. The research raises, discusses, and answers several key questions concerning heritage conservation, such as: whether UNESCO’s conventions target the right heritage or not; the conflicts appearing between heritage conservation documents (conventions and charters); whether intangible heritage can be communicated through design; and the effect of Western heritage ideology on heritage conservation practices. This is carried out through the use of interpretive discourse analysis of literature and heritage documents, and personal site observations and questionnaire surveys carried out in two main World Heritage Sites: Historic Cairo in Egypt and Liverpool city in the UK. The two case studies contributed to the understanding of the general public’s perception of cultural Heritage Sites, and how such perception is reflected in current heritage conservation practices. The thesis decodes cultural World Heritage Sites into three intersecting levels: the ‘cultural significances’ (or ‘open codes’), which represent different categories under which people perceive historic urban landscapes; the ‘cultural concepts’ (or ‘axial codes’), which are considered as the objectives of heritage conservation practice, and represent the general concepts under which cultural significances influence the heritage interpretation process; and finally, the ‘interpretation strategy tactics’, the UNCAP Strategy (or the ‘selective coding’), which are the five overarching principles guiding the interpretation management process in cultural heritage sites. This strategy, the UNCAP (Understanding people; Narrating the story; Conserving the spirit of place; Architectural engagement; and Preserving the built heritage), developed throughout this research, is intended to help heritage site managers, curators, architects, urban designers, landscape architects, developers, and decision makers to build up a thorough understanding of heritage sites, which should facilitate the establishment of more interpretive management plans for such sites, and enhance the communication of meanings and values of their physical remains, as well as emphasizing the ‘spirit of place’; for achieving socio-cultural sustainability in the development of World Heritage Sites

Confronting the Conundrum of Shared Space Street Design

This chapter discusses the challenges and debates related to the concept of Shared Space street design via demonstrating the case of the ongoing Masterplan development scheme of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in Preston, North West England, United Kingdom. Based on hands-on experience, being involved with the project on multiple layers; in project management, working, and living in Preston City, the authors employ observational analysis methods to explore and reflect on the challenges UCLan Masterplan has faced, how it learned from the city’s most recent Shared Space development (the Fishergate Project), and they further expand on their prediction on how the project may influence the transformation of Preston’s public realm. This chapter aims to start a debate on how Shared Space tactics can lead to near-Car-Free urban zones and contribute to the enhanced people-focused urban experience

Bucket-handle tear of the triangular fibrocartilage complex: case report of a complex peripheral injury with separation of the distal radioulnar ligaments from the articular disc

Palmer previously proposed a classification system of triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) injuries that proved to be useful in directing clinical management. However, dorsal peripheral tears (variants of class 1C) were not described and have rarely been reported in the literature since. We herewith present a rare case of bucket-handle tear of the TFCC. To our knowledge, this is the first case demonstrating partial separation of both the palmar and dorsal distal radioulnar ligaments (DRULs) from the articular disc. The particular wrist magnetic resonance (MR) arthrographic findings of this unusual complex peripheral TFCC tear (a variant of both class 1B and 1C) were nicely appreciated upon sagittal reformatted image

IT governance matter: A structured literature review

The aim of this paper is to critically explore information technology governance (ITG) context, its consequences, its various aspects, its determinants, disclosure, maturity, and challenges. There are some motivations that urge the researchers to carry out this study. First, the review of prior relevant literature reveals a limited number of studies addressing the IT governance context, its consequences, its various aspects, its determinants, and challenges. Second, very little is known about the potential implications of IT governance within the business and how it is significant to the decision-makers (e.g., shareholders, board of directors, executives, etc.). Finally, little research employs the structured literature review (SLR) approach to critically discuss and analyze the IT governance context with its various aspects. The systematic and structured literature review has been employed for a critical analysis of the previous studies on IT governance. It is found that effective ITG has a positive impact on the firm performance in consistent with Altemimi and Zakaria (2017), Hulme (2012). Additionally, it is concluded that there is a positive association between ITG, the trustworthiness and the level of financial disclosure agreeing with (Raghupathi, 2007; Ali & Green, 2007). It is also concluded that the level of ITG disclosure is higher within firms in Europe (67%) than in the US (49%) complementing with Joshi et al. (2013). The adoption of the SLR methodology enables this paper to derive unbiased empirical insights and critique into the current ITG research and to identify possible directions for future ITG research, which may possibly be of interest to the academics, regulators, and professional bodies (e.g., shareholders, board of directors, executives, etc.)

Outcome of long-axis percutaneous sacroplasty for the treatment of sacral insufficiency fractures

Our aim was to assess the clinical outcome of patients who were subjected to long-axis sacroplasty for the treatment of sacral insufficiency fractures. Nineteen patients with unilateral (n = 3) or bilateral (n = 16) sacral fractures were involved. Under local anaesthesia, each patient was subjected to CT-guided sacroplasty using the long-axis approach through a single entry point. An average of 6ml of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) was delivered along the path of each sacral fracture. For each individual patient, the Visual Analogue pain Scale (VAS) before sacroplasty and at 1, 4, 24 and 48weeks after the procedure was obtained. Furthermore, the use of analgesics (narcotic/non-narcotic) along with the evolution of post-interventional patient mobility before and after sacroplasty was also recorded. The mean pre-procedure VAS was 8 ± 1.9 (range, 2 to 10). This rapidly and significantly (P < 0.001) declined in the first week after the procedure (mean 4 ± 1.4; range, 1 to 7) followed by a gradual and significant (P < 0.001) decrease along the rest of the follow-up period at 4weeks (mean 3 ± 1.1; range, 1 to 5), 24weeks (mean 2.2 ± 1.1; range, 1 to 5) and 48weeks (mean 1.6 ± 1.1; range, 1 to 5). Eleven (58%) patients were under narcotic analgesia before sacroplasty, whereas 8 (42%) patients were using non-narcotics. Corresponding values after the procedure were 2/19 (10%; narcotic, one of them was on reserve) and 10/19 (53%; non-narcotic). The remaining 7 (37%) patients did not address post-procedure analgesic use. The evolution of post-interventional mobility was favourable in the study group as they revealed a significant improvement in their mobility point scale (P < 0.001). Long-axis percutaneous sacroplasty is a suitable, minimally invasive treatment option for patients who present with sacral insufficiency fractures. More studies with larger patient numbers are needed to explore any unrecognised limitations of this therapeutic approac