Regeneration Through Cultural Reuse

There is growing evidence that shows that new regenerative urban development schemes are invariably driven through financial imperatives which compromise, and in some cases actively undermine, cultural heritage. The importance of this research is in highlighting that sustaining cultural heritage in sites of redevelopment is of vital importance for retaining the identity and historic value of a place, which can be understood as the spatial fabric but also the patterns and scale of uses that it facilitates. The aim has been the definition of a set of evaluation criteria towards new regeneration urban development schemes, prompted by the necessity to highlight urban heritage values. The research derived from speculating that there is a lack of research, articulated approaches and design codes on the definition of a place’s urban context and urban identity, and that there is also a gap in the existing evaluation tools (e.g. Historic England, UNESCO, ICOMOS) that rather focus on material history (tangible assets only) and ascribe heritage significance accordingly.

The work has strategically involved using a single case study, Norton Folgate, to unpack the complexities of modern urban heritage regeneration; it establishes a semiological approach that values both tangible and intangible heritage; it highlights the need to evaluate the problem in a measurable and somewhat rational way, while engaging with the regeneration sector and its actors, including the community, and; uses LEED ND as a starting point to develop a tool that brings in the semiological aspect to a structured evaluation system, defining what LEED ND needs, to become LEED HD (Heritage Development). The revealed results include the definition of an alternative, socially-led model of heritage evaluation and change management, and a tool that agencies can use to embed and steer social values, and achieve more balanced outcomes for the places’ future use by more diverse and empowered citizens.

The contribution to knowledge includes the identification of a deeper semiological significance of individual buildings to redefine the urban linguistic landscape, the cultural experience of the dwellers, the expressions of identity, and the syntactic logic of organization. The work finally synthetically articulates all gained knowledge through an open-source document on how to approach heritage-led regenerative schemes.