When ecologists study the dynamics of an
ecosystem, they generally concern themselves with observable,
ongoing processes (energy flow in, energy flow out; extent and
connectivity of green spaces, water quality, traffic patterns,
structures of economic exchange, and so on). The notion of memory,
especially cultural memory (that is, memory of things we never
experienced directly, passed on through generations by word of
mouth or through art and history) is more or less alien to
ecological thinking. Clearly, however, cultural memory contributes
to the sustainability of cities. Hopefully, urban ecologists will
be able to find ways to incorporate this and other fundamentally
humanistic concepts into the interdisciplinary web that makes up
their complex discipline.
'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned
to repeat it. Fashions in land-use extend into the world of
conservation; even people whose business is to uphold community are
not immune from them. How doe we ensure that the wisdom of
one human generation is remembered by the next? Failures are
treated as something to be lived down rather than experiments from
which to garner future success.
Individualism and modern liberal democracy
emerged within the historical context of humanism, the
philosophical trend that took hold during the Renaissance and
proposed that the highest value in the human world was humanity
itself. Thus began an exploration of human potential, of new
horizons in education and excellence in the arts and in
experimental science. The goals of humanism were to cultivate and
to liberate the spirit and potential of the human species.
Historically, humanism has been associated with an aggressively
anthrocentric neglect of both nature and religion, though neither
association is necessarily valid or broadly applicable. The central
concern of the movement was to use the natural gifts of the human
species to achieve great advances in learning, civilization,
justice, and invention.
Heritage resources refer to areas, places,
buildings, structures, outdoor works of art, natural features, and
other objects having a special historical, cultural,
archaeological, architectural, community, or aesthetic value.
This definition is
based on the broad definition of culture used by the United
Nations, where culture means the arts and the tangible/intangible
heritage of a people. It encompasses the activities of
artists and arts professionals, heritage professionals and
volunteers, Aboriginal and European-based tradition bearers. It
also includes cultural industries, institutes, associations,
organizations and enterprises, and art. With respect to art,
there is a whole cultural history of ideas embedded in
images.
The size and economic
importance of heritage tourism is a measure of the place of
historical artifacts in defining the human
habitat. More importantly, it reminds us that a
human habitat is not just a collection of infrastructure, or even
of human occupants that are separate consumers. It is a
social organization handed down through history that involves human
attributes: beliefs, concepts, economic and political dimensions,
family and other social reproductive institutions, a set of human
languages, traditions, aesthetics and processes. Human settlement
development is habitat development in which current economic
development operates within the context of historical
heritage.