World Heritage: meanings amongst local communities of the Ironbridge Gorge
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-12-10

Numerous research projects concerning active participation of different communities in the conservation of World Heritage Sites often present the subject from the perspective of individual cases rather than integrating them into wider conservation policies. Hence, this crucial area of understanding has not yet been explored adequately. This study investigates the relationship between ‘community’ and World Heritage. It also highlights the main obstacles in the World Heritage process that prevent communities from engaging in the conservation process. This paper will also address the interaction between universal values and ‘local knowledge’ or whether this interaction exists at all. What does a World Heritage Site mean to its local communities and what does it do for them? Research based on anthropological study on communities of the Ironbridge Gorge will inform what a World Heritage Site means to local people and how they absorb and negotiate World Heritage values.