Sustaining cultural identity and a sense of place - new wine in old bottles or old wine in new bottles?

Recent literature has re-emphasised the relevance of a 'sense of place' to our understanding and appreciation of the historic environment, and to the importance of the historic environment 'in creating places where people want to live and work' (English Heritage, 2009). A sense of place has conflicting qualities: it needs to provide a continuous line linking us to the past which gives us our identity, yet must be relevant to the changing perceptions of succeeding generations. In short it must recognise the intergenerational legacy of the built environment. A continuum of options is reviewed. The aim of this is to establish some broad principles as to how we both value and mould the tangible and intangible aspects of heritage into a sense of place that (to paraphrase Brundtland (1987) meets the opinions and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to adapt it to meet their own aspirations and priorities.