A national system of architectural heritage protection has now been in place in Ireland for almost 20 years, providing a rigorous professional framework in which conservation decisions are framed. However, alternative perspectives on what aspects of the built environment are important can lead to conflict and to fundamental questions around whose heritage is being protected and why, and whether conventional approaches should be challenged, and conservation of built heritage ‘democratised’. These alternative perspectives include the views of the general public, sometimes rooted in collective memory and identity, but also other competing social, economic and political factors. This seminar aims to examine how conservation can engage with diverse voices and values in heritage debates through new methodologies and perspectives. This seminar therefore brings together guests from across the island of Ireland and further afield to address these issues through a series of presentations and concluding with a panel discussion. Speakers include:

  • Dr Arthur Parkinson, Lecturer in Planning and Urban Design, School of Architecture Planning and Environmental Policy, University College Dublin. Democratising conservation: reinvigorating theory and practice.
  • Assoc Prof Niamh Moore-Cherry, Associate Professor of Urban Governance and Development in the School of Geography, University College Dublin. Temporal politics and urban redevelopment: the case of Moore Street, Dublin.
  • Dr Tom Maguire, Senior Lecturer, School of Arts & Humanities, Ulster University. Necessary forgetting: erasing heritage to regenerate in post-conflict Derry-Londonderry.
  • Dr Andrew McClelland, Research Associate, Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place, University of Liverpool. Digital public participation and heritage.
  • Dr Kalliopi Fouseki, Senior Lecturer, UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage, Bartlett School Environment, Energy & Resources, University College London. Heritage values, participation, conflict and cultural diplomacy in urban regeneration.
  • Dr Michael Short, Senior Teaching Fellow in Planning, Bartlett School of Planning, University College London. Townscape character and building tall: a way forward?
  • Grainne Shaffrey, principal of Shaffrey Architects, and President of ICOMOS Ireland. Conservation and the public: experiences from Irish practice.
  • Paraic Fallon, Senior Planner, Archaeology, Conservation & Heritage Section, Dublin City Council. Heritage and development in Dublin.
  • Ciarán Cuffe, architect, planner, Dublin City Councillor for the North Inner City, and Lecturer in Planning, Department of Environment and Planning, DIT. Contesting Dublin’s Heritage Values.

This is an RIAI CPD Links event worth 3 structured CPD points and is approved for IPI CPD.