Heritage Resources Management (HERM) 542

Overview

HERM 542: Issues in Planning Historic Places is a detailed examination of values-based planning options and approaches for historic places. Students will gain advanced skills in managing and structuring planning efforts for a variety of types of circumstances; learn how to define appropriate use for buildings, landscapes, and other resources in terms of broader conservation, economic, social, and interpretative needs; and learn how the planning of historic places and the existing built environment is increasingly shaped by new paradigms in broader cultural and environmental contexts.

Through a range of readings and assignments, this course studies the complexity of assessing, planning, and conserving heritage value. Significant debates in the field and the purpose of historic place commemoration and planning, methods of assessment, regulation, conservation, and interpretation, along with issues of sustainability and Indigenous ways of knowing, are all part of this exploration.

Outline

Herm 542: Issues in Planning Historic Places is divided into eleven units, which are grouped in three parts:

Part 1: Historic Places and Heritage Value

• Unit 1: Evolution of Heritage Planning
• Unit 2: Commemoration and Contention
• Unit 3: Values-Based Approaches to Understanding Historic Places

Part II: Current Practices for Managing Historic Places

• Unit 4: Identification and Evaluation
• Unit 5: Legislation and Protection Strategies
• Unit 6: Planning Principles and Practice
• Unit 7: Conservation: Principles and Application

Part III: Shifting Paradigms and New Challenges

• Unit 8: Interpretation at Historic Places
• Unit 9: Sustainability: Economic, Environmental, and Socio-Cultural Identity and Well-Being
• Unit 10: Cultural Landscapes, Ecology, and Indigenous Ways of Knowing
• Unit 11: Climate Change: Threats, Mitigation, and Adaptation for Historic Places

Evaluation

To receive credit for HERM 542, students must complete and submit all of the assignments and must achieve a minimum grade of C− (60 percent) for the course.

Students will be evaluated on their understanding of the concepts presented in the course and on their ability to apply those concepts. The final grade in the course will be based on the marks achieved for the following activities.

There is no final exam in this course.

Materials

All course materials are online.

Important links

• Academic advising
• Program planning
• Request assistance
• Support services at AU