Recognising multiple narratives of place and giving due consideration to the practices associated with those values touches on many aspects of conservation and management of the historic environment. Social value assessments offer opportunities to:
- explore potential social benefits;
- consider wider societal impacts, e.g. through revealing how historic environments are connected to contemporary social and political narratives;
- enhance community engagement with and experience of historic environments; and
- support broader organisational values such as inclusivity and diversity.
Understanding social values and communities can also help when it comes to managing inevitable processes of change and loss in the historic environment. This was one of the aspects considered (within a wider framing of prioritisation) in the Scottish Universities Insight Institute programme, Learning from Loss: Transformation in the Historic Environment in the face of Climate Change.
Reflections on Value
- Value is socially constructed. There may only be three known examples of a particular monument in existence, but ascribing value on the basis of that rarity is a social concept, not a material attribute of the monument itself.
- Value is plural. Places and things can hold multiple values for the same individuals and/or different values for different people. These values may contradict but one does not negate the other.
- Value is dynamic. We reassess, we contextualise, we revalue in the light of new experiences and new information.
As an example, the White Caterthun has become a focus for memorial practices. Is that because of the presence of the hill fort, or because is a high hill, or because it is a popular walk? The site is all of those things while still being the same place. The values associated with the site reflect multiple associations, uses and values, with varying emphasis according to context.
When assessing social values, the intention is not to resolve this complexity or fix the values but to work productively with the multiplicity and changing context. Simplifying the resulting material will not necessarily result in clarity, as it is the particular details that bring depth of understanding. This kind of knowledge is difficult to build into systems based on categorisation. However, people can cope with complexity far better than systems, drawing on different sources of expertise and bringing different aspects to the fore at different times.
Asking questions such as ‘whose values count’, acknowledges that there are multiple values and that as heritage practitioners we play an active role in creating and upholding particular values.
Balancing Values in Heritage Practice
Practitioners will be familiar with balancing different values and priorities when deciding on a course of action. To date, an absence of evidence for social values, together with a heavy emphasis on technical expertise, has tended to result in social values being left out of such decisions. A social values assessment can help in redressing that balance.
As with other areas of value, the aim is to avoid actions that negatively impact on values (in their implementation and/or thereafter) and to enhance value wherever possible. Following on from this, consideration can be given to how and when the range of communities potentially affected might be involved in the process.
Social values should be considered, when determining which conservation or management actions to take, but they will rarely (if ever) be the only factor. For example, at a site where unstable stonework is posing a danger to visitors, avoiding serious injury will be the primary consideration. Conservator judgement over the necessary action to secure the structure is likely to be privileged over social values related to access or appearance. However, knowing the social values associated with a site could usefully inform the process, i.e. identifying which of a range of possible technical solutions might be most acceptable to communities, who is involved in discussions about closure, and how and when information is shared with the communities affected.
Demonstrating that social values have been recognised and respected in the process can help minimise tensions between stakeholders around the actions eventually taken.