Heritage Values, Stakeholders, and Consensus Building

During the second phase of Research on the Values of Heritgage’s work, the Institute developed and published four case studies illustrating the role of values in site management with examples describing and analyzing the processes that connect theoretical management guidelines with management planning and its practical application (see Related below).

An important issue raised in this earlier work is the necessity for heritage practitioners to engage with the range of stakeholders and other authorities who attach importance to heritage places. This ensures a shared understanding of the collective values of a place and helps produce better conservation outcomes. The values and priorities that stakeholders attribute to heritage places are at times in conflict, and heritage professionals must try to facilitate a resolution that is in the interest of conservation. Heritage practitioners therefore need skills and practical, proven strategies for negotiation, building consensus, resolving conflicts, and ultimately reaching lasting agreements.

The field of public policy consensus building and dispute resolution has been developing and applying strategies to a wide range of international contexts for more than two decades. This work has included extensive application to arenas related to heritage practice, such as environmental and land-use disputes, urban planning, international development, community relations, resource management, and public policymaking. Remarkably, its application to the practice of heritage conservation has been limited. The Heritage Values, Stakeholders, and Consensus Building project aims to bridge this gap.

reaching lasting agreements are required of heritage decision-makers, little if any written guidance specific to heritage conservation management exists, and educational and training curricula for heritage professionals typically do not address these skills.

To address this gap the Heritage Values, Stakeholders and Consensus Building project seeks to help heritage practitioners more effectively engage with stakeholders and other authorities in the conservation and management of heritage places, while applying concepts, strategies, and expertise in consensus building, negotiation, and conflict resolution to heritage place conservation and management.

Getty Conservation Institute: David Myers, Project Manager; Michael Aronowitz, Maria Cummings, Sara Galerne, Virginia Horton, Kathleen Louw, Lisa Beth Meyers, Gail Ostergren, Micaela Shea, Azadeh Vafadari

Department of Antiquities, Jordan: Dr. Fawwaz Al-Khraysheh, May Shaer

Erica Avrami, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation; Randall Mason, University of Pennsylvania Graduate Program in Historic Preservation

David Fairman, Consensus Building Institute (assistance in design, planning, and implementation of consensus building workshop and preparation of its associated publication); Stacie Nicole Smith, Consensus Building Institute (Jarash case study exercise preparation and testing; assistance in design, planning, and implementation of consensus building workshop and preparation of its associated publication); Rami Daher (Jarash case-study testing); Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess, University of Colorado Conflict Information Consortium (peer review); Chris Johnston, Context and Deakin University (assistance in preparation of consensus building publication)