Course detail

Actors and Policy of Architectural Heritage

FA-APH-ZEAcad. year: 2025/2026

The general aim of the course is to examine main heritage actors and so to identify main conflict lines in shaping policies towards architectural preservation and heritage-lead urban development.

Cultural heritage in Central-Eastern Europe is often a field of conflicts. There are several types of actors dealing with heritage:

  1. “Historians” creating narrations of the past and producing an authorised heritage discourse (in L. Smith terminology);
  2. “Conservators” who, on the one hand, are heralds of heritage ethic and stakeholders of main concepts such as authenticity or restoration, but, on the other, are lobbying their own creative ambitions;
  3. “Communities” – in Eastern Europe they are just starting to raise heads and ask for more rights (mostly with the help of professional managers implementing European projects);
  4. “Bureaucrats” – hired managers, inventing and establishing rules, controlling implementation and having power to penalise those who act out of their limits.

Other categories to mention are heritage activists, businessmen, developers, artists, ecologists, various politicians, new experts, etc.

All these actors are lacking reflections and critical analysis of what should be done in order to turn heritage into a field of consent and growth point for the city.

Language of instruction

English

Number of ECTS credits

3

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

Mgr. Stsiapan Stureika, Ph.D.

Department

European Humanities University ()

Aims

  • Students learn to identify and to analyse different actors dealing with urban heritage.
  • Students learn to identify and to analyse the configurations of the actors of urban heritage that lead to a consensual stance towards heritage as a field of dialogue and a basis for urban development.
  • Graduates learn to perform empirical analysis of site-specific policies of urban heritage, to compare them, and to interpret their features.

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

  • Participation in seminar and forum discussions (50%, during the semester)
  • Final research paper (50%)

Study aids

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

ASHWORTH, G.J. From history to heritage: from heritage to identity: in search of concepts and models // Building a New Heritage: Tourism, Culture and Identity in the New Europe. Ed. by Ashworth G.J. and Larkham P.J. London: Routledge, 1994. (EN)
Cultural Heritage Counts for Europe (Full report). Krakow: CHCfE Consortium, International Cultural Centre, 2015. 297 p. (EN)
HARRISON, R. Heritage: Critical Approaches. Routledge, 2013. (EN)
HODGES, A., WATSON, S. Community-based Heritage Management: a case study and agenda for research // International Journal of Heritage Studies. 2000. Vol. 6. No. 3. (EN)
KOZIOL, C. Historic Preservation Ideology: A Critical Mapping of Contemporary Heritage Policy Discourse // Preservation Education and Research. 2008. № 1 (1). P. 41—50. (EN)
POULOT, D. The Birth of Heritage: 'le moment Guizot' // Oxford Art Journal. – Vol. 11. – 1988. – No. 2. – P. 40–56. (EN)
PRUIJT, H. The impact of citizens’ protest on city planning in Amsterdam // Cultural Heritage and the Historic Inner City of Amsterdam Ed. by L. Deben, W.Salet, M.–T. van Thoor. Amsterdam: Aksant, 2004. (EN)
SMITH L. Uses of Heritage. Routledge, 2006. (EN)
WATERTON, E., SMITH, L. The recognition and misrecognition of community heritage // International Journal of Heritage Studies. Vol. 16, No. 1–2. (EN)
WATERTON Emma. Politics, Policy and the Discourses of Heritage in Britain. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. – 270 p. (EN)

Recommended reading

Not applicable.

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme NE_INUS Master's 1 year of study, summer semester, compulsory-optional

Type of course unit

 

Seminar

8 hod., compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

Mgr. Stsiapan Stureika, Ph.D.

Syllabus

2) The nature of heritage preservation and establishing of institutes [2 hours]
3) Global heritage actors and their policies [2 hours]
5) Heritage communities VS heritage activists [2 hours]
7) Cultural heritage in the context of sustainable development [2 hours]

Lecture

8 hod., optionally

Teacher / Lecturer

Mgr. Stsiapan Stureika, Ph.D.

Syllabus

1) Introduction. Heritage as discursive conflict, adoption and ritual [2 hours]
2) The nature of heritage preservation and establishing of institutes [2 hours]
4) An authorised heritage discourse and its oppositions [2 hours]
6) Shaping the new heritage policies in Central-Eastern Europe [2 hours]