The historical development of built heritage awareness and conservation policies: a comparison of two World Heritage Sites: Edinburgh and Salvador do Bahia

Values regarding built heritage have developed historically in response to both international agendas and local circumstances, and have underpinned the creation of World Heritage Sites and regeneration approaches within these. Such regeneration processes are an arena where different interests meet and often confront each other, with concepts and values of built heritage being used to different ends by the actors involved. However, the origins of conservation concepts and approaches are seldom considered. This paper examines the historical development of built heritage awareness and conservation policies from an institutionalist perspective at the international, European and Latin. American levels. It then considers conservation policies in Scotland and Brazil, particularly in the central areas in Edinburgh and Salvador from the 19th century to the 1970s, and the growing awareness of built heritage among certain sections of society and local institutions in these localities. Finally, the paper analyses the reasons behind, and types of, interventions in Edinburgh's Old Town and Salvador's Pelourinho and Maciel neighbourhoods, and the level of awareness of built heritage among the general population in the two cities. The paper draws conclusions on the influence of various factors on the development of approaches to built heritage and on the different ways in which these contributed to a particular awareness of built heritage in Edinburgh and Salvador. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.