BOOK REVIEWS SOWHOSE HERITAGEISIT? Sharing the Earth - local identity in global culture. J.M.Fladmark (Ed.). Donhead. 1995. 381pp. Hardback. Numerous b+w illus. ISBN 1 873394 19 5. £37.00 The Heritage Unit at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, was established in 1993 to study the interactions between natural and cultural assets. This volume contains the proceedings of the third annual conference exploring these themes which in 1995 concentrated on the questions of heritage ownership and control. Thirty three contributions examine topics ranging from globalisation of media ownership and its threat to local identity, language and local identity, the right to roam - the Scottish and Norwegian experience, to the relevance of local identity in tourism marketing. Sixteen of the papers are concerned (as might be expected from a Scottish institution) with Scottish issues including the relevance of Gaelic as a living language; public access land; and selling Scotland as a niche tourist market. Only two essays -Graeme Munro on 'A sense of place in towns' (looking at the local townscape details that make Edinburgh special), and Richard England on 'Local identity in modern architecture' (new buildings in Malta which are rooted in local tradition) specifically aclclress the routine concerns of Conservation Officers. However, to perceive the book in this narrow light is to ignore the importance of the Robert Gordon approach in pointing up the interactions between our concerns and those of other disciplines. Our developing understanding of the concept of sustainability emphasises the need to respect the natural world. A recurrent theme throughout this volume is the need to recognise, too, that the sites or artefacts with which conservation, ecology, museum or tourism professionals are concerned are or have been part of a living culture. Nicholas Luarcl coins the term 'cultural ecology' to highlight the conjunction between man and his natural environment. It is axiomatic, therefore, that conCONTEXT 52 servation activity should be pursued with the consent, unclerstancling and active involvement of the local population. Failure to do so can either damage the human ecosystem or create antagonisms. James Hunter, in an essay on repopulating the Highlands, cites the notorious example of the first American National Parks where the incljgenous people were driven out in the thrust to protect the natural landscape. In a salutary paper for any conservationist to read, Alexander Borg explores the cultural gap between rural bird hunters in Malta (their activity merely an extension of the daily battle between man and inhospitable nature) and the efforts of eclucatecl urban dwellers to depict it as barbaric. These tensions are now a hotly contested electoral issue, but the author suggests that tolerant education, not confrontation and law, will bring about change. The right to roam has threatened to become a forthcoming electoral issue throughout the UK, but it has long been a major bone of contention in Scotland. This contrasts with Norway where Per Pallesen explains an historic liberal approach based on well unclerstoocl codes of conduct - only now coming under threat from over intensive or motorised use. Several essays explore the political tensions aroused by public access to the Scottish moors, and proposals from Scottish Natural Heritage to devise access accords based on sustainable principles and biogeographic management zones. A number of writers examine the role of museums in portraying and interpreting local culture. William Tramposch, a museum director from New Zealand, posits the controversial case that the Walt Disney approach to presentation (clean toilets, friendly staff, and lively presentation) has more to commend it to the average visitor than the traditional stuffy academic approach. At the other encl of the spectrum Graham Watson suggests that the community run, local authority supported (not funclecl) museums in North East Scotland give local ownership to the collections and reinforce a sense of 'belonging'. It is difficult in a brief review to give full justice to the wide range and international scope of papers presented. Not all the arguments will be agreed with, or be transferable to our daily work. The volume is, however, a work that can be clipped into throughout with profit for its ability to provoke questions or provide insights into the philosophy or conduct of all we do. Alan Taylor DEFINITIVE WRITINGS Listed buildings and conservation areas. Charles Mynors. FT Law & Tax. 2nd Eel. 1995. 447pp. Hardback. 240 X 160 mm. ISBN O 85121 902 0. £49.00. The Cambridgeshire guide to historic buildings law. Robert Walker. Cambridgeshire County Council. 8th Eel. 1995. 240pp. Softback. 293X 208mm. ISBN 1 870724 19 4. £17.50 (+£3.50 p+p). Conservation practitioners have been able to rely on three authoritative books on historic buildings law each of which has had a slightly different focus. Roger Sucldarcl's recently revised edition (reviewed elsewhere in this issue) is a fitting tribute to him following his recent untimely death. While that book will remain current for some time, the mantle of documenting the evolution of historic buildings law will pass to the authors of the other two new editions, both of which were revised last year. Both authors provide contrasting but complementary reference works. The Mynors, first published in 1989 is in its second edition; the Walker, last published in 1988, is on its eighth. In the meantime there has been consolidating legislation (although failing to incorporate the provisions of the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953), much aclclitional planning guidance, notably Planning Policy Guidance Notes 15 and 16, a new General Permitted Development Order, fundamental overhaul of the Ecclesiastical Exemption and a rapidly evolving body of case law. One of the principal contrasts between the two books under review is that the Mynors now specifically excludes references to archaeology (its author having concluclecl that this entirely separate statutory code requires a further book), while the Walker continues to devotes a chapter to the workings of the 1979 Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act, the effects of the Scheduling and the importance of archaeology as set out in key aspects of PPG16. Although the environment within which the legislation operates continues to evolve, at some point a new edition must be finalised. Governments continue to legislate and there must be a temptation to wait until all the pieces are in place so that these eagerly awaited volumes are not renclerecl obsolete overnight. The Mynors volume acknowleclgecl that further amendments could expected in the near future and he could be justifiably be irritated at the Government sloth in issuing new Directions to replace those in Circular 8/87. Publication had already been clelayecl by a year in unfulfilled expectation of incorporating these. The book is therefore very specific about the cut-off elate for the information it incorporates (up to 3 June 1995). This should be remembered when balancing the value of current advice against the extent of the expected changes to law and practice which will eventually necessitate a further edition. The Walker 'Guide' has required amendment in the light of the new GDO but it has been possible to insert a seven page loose-leaf appendix (also dated June 1995) summarising the recent amendments to permitted development rights, the revisions involving article four Directions and consultations with the Garden History Society. Neither volume was able to anticipate the content of the Government Green Paper on listing. If this should result in fundamental changes to the procedures, practices and statutory duties concerning listed buildings requiring consequential amending legislation, then practitioners will require new editions of both books more quickly than the last ones. An essential attribute in a reference work to which one 41
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