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.
