CULTURAL ENVIRONMENTS – A SOCIAL MATTER

The paper will originate from the perspective that cultural environments contain both physical and social understandings, and that it shall not be conserved, but rather reinterpreted. The text will focus on developments of cultural environments that are anchored to, and integrated with the local community, and address the missing link between the intrinsic potentials of the cultural environments and the compensation of cultural environments.
Different cases will exemplify the process of cultural environments becoming a central part of their respective local communities. These cases express how the historic traces contribute to a new narrative for the local community and the development strategy. They underline the link between the life that has been lived in the historical frameworks of the cultural environment, and a development where “life” is in the centre of the development scheme.
The social context is being undermined in many governing heritage management situations. The strategic development of cultural environments can be tied to the local community and thus generate a symbiosis which secures the development of the cultural environment and enhances the identity and site-specific value of the local environment. The compensation of cultural heritage is considered in relation to a continually changeable heritage environment - when perceived to contain a social layer. This social view on compensation is rooted in the attempt to ensure that cultural heritage, besides securing the national historical interest, has a value for people today.