Consent, agreement, communities and holders: the issue of social participation in the field of cultural heritage and the dialogue between the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage and the intangible heritage policy of Brazil

This article considers some modes of activation and operationalization of the idea of social participation in the field of intangible cultural heritage. It regards the newest proposal of operating participation established by the UNESCO Convention on Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage and the experience of its implementation in Brazil. By analyzing how the issue of participation was developed through dialogue between the international and national levels, the paper also shows how the emergence of categories of social actors such as “communities” and “bearers” has been consolidated within the mentioned intangible cultural policies.

Energy and historic buildings: toward evidence-based policy reform

PurposeThis research informs the intersection of climate and heritage policy development by examining the history of US energy policy as it relates to historic buildings, emerging policy tools to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the implications of a changing legislative landscape on historic buildings through the case of New York City.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a multi-method approach, including a review of US energy codes; discourse analysis of government records, energy studies, and reports related to historic buildings and energy; select research into energy-related heritage policy at the municipal level; and geospatial and statistical methods to analyze policy implications in the case study of New York City.FindingsHistoric buildings have long been afforded exemptions from energy code compliance in the US, and these waivers are widespread. Contemporary operating energy and greenhouse gas data, as well as energy justice findings about whom these waivers privilege, challenge these exemptions and signal a need for significant policy reform in light of climate change.Originality/valueThis study questions longstanding rhetoric about historic buildings being inherently green and supports the need for more evidence-based research to undergird heritage policy reform that is equitable and climate-responsive.

The forgotten Eastern Front: dealing with the social and archaeological legacies of the Battle of the Rawka and Bzura Rivers (1914–1915), central Poland

While the Western Front of the Great (or First World) War is deeply engrained in the European historical consciousness, memories of the Eastern Front are less prominent. Here, events have been repressed, obscured by the subsequent experience of the Second World War and by heritage policy in the region. The authors present the results of archaeological investigations of a battlefield in central Poland, where static trench warfare was fought between December 1914 and July 1915. A unique landscape palimpsest was formed, the present neglected state of which is a material expression of contemporary attitudes to the legacy of the forgotten Eastern Front. The study illustrates the wider intersection of warfare, identity and memory.