Heritage in Asia: converging forces, conflicting values

Abstract

In the early 1990s Robertson Collins, a tourism consultant in Asia, wrote: ‘It is the basic skills – and eventually the refined skills – that are needed [throughout] the world […] They [field practitioners] need standards and guidelines for Band-Aid, interim work that will simply “hold” their buildings and monuments together, until they can afford to call in the doctor’. ( 1991 : 217) Since this comment, the role of the ‘heritage professional’ in Asia has widened considerably. However, the need for skilled ‘doctors’ persists. As mentioned in the introduction to this volume, Asia has experienced rapid growth over the past two decades and increasingly heritage is being used both as a resource to fuel that expansion and as justification in political agendas for nations as they jockey for position within regional and international hierarchies. Meanwhile, due to factors of age, shifting priorities within heritage discourse, deferred maintenance or increased pressures as mentioned above, the material fabric of Asia’s historic built environment deteriorates rapidly. This is an issue of major concern. Compounding this problem is a paucity of expertise, most notably embodied in the architectural conservator. In this chapter we argue that there is a need for this professional in Asia to help ensure the long-term conservation of Asia’s material built heritage.

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