Understanding Places

The CBA welcomes new online resources for heritage and place-making.

All places have a story and identity of their own; every part of an historic area has a distinctive character, shaped by thousands of years of history up to the present day. Two new publications explain the important role of understanding the historic development and significance of an area in place making. Published by English Heritage,’Understanding Place - Historic Area Assessments: Principles and Practice’ and ‘Historic Area Assessment in a Planning and Development Context’ are available on the HELM website.

Another new online resource is Lincoln City’s exciting new website, Heritage Connnect Lincoln, which will be launched on 22 June and is a big step forward in making this approach accessible for local people. It will enable people to explore the heritage of Lincoln from a new perspective, providing unprecedented breadth and depth of fascinating historical and environmental information. You will be able to look at maps, views, video tours and photographs, and then drill down into the historical development of an area, its ecology and current use, the condition of buildings and the streetscape.

Can the heritage be a strong shaping force in the Government’s new localism agenda for planning? The CBA believes it should be and that an area-based approach to understanding the character of places is the way forward. Interactive web-based resources like Lincoln’s will be key to engaging local people with their neigbourhood’s unique character and history and understanding what matters about their local environment. Watch out for the Heritage Connect launch on 22 June.