Fifteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Housing estates are often regarded as the embodiment of modernity’s failed architecture and a threat to community formation (Newman 1972; Coleman 1990). As a result, the dominant discourse assumes a strained relationship between heritage and modern architecture. Despite such tension, the act of listing a modern housing estate by an expert public body designates the building as heritage. But how does a listed modern housing estate really become heritage? It has been suggested that the creation of heritage can be better understood as a process rather than as an event (Rørtveit and Setten 2015). Even more, the process of accepting modern architecture as heritage can require the act of “persuasion” (Bell 2011: 228). Within the context of the processual creation of heritage, this paper presents findings from a qualitative study between residents in a listed modern housing estate in Edinburgh (UK). The paper shows context-specific histories underpinning peoples’ narratives about ‘rupture’ with tradition, that nevertheless piece together past, present and future. The paper’s findings problematise the prevailing understanding that ‘continuity’ is critical to the creation of heritage.