The Mall Method How to study inhabitants’ appreciation of urban cultural heritage areas

Abstract

Criticism has been directed at traditional approaches to cultural heritage management, as reflected in legislation and policy, for ignoring elements integral to community perceptions of cultural heritage. Although discussions on the right to define are lively, there has been less focus directed towards the significance which personal affiliations and memory play in the processes of forming people’s conceptions of important cultural heritage assets and valuable places. But how do we get more insight into the subjective appreciations of heritage environments? The point of this article is to show how new subjective methodological approaches, tested by what we call the mall method, can get hold of subjective narratives and perspectives linked to inhabitants’ everyday life in urban contexts, and to their memories of places. The method is evaluated in the light of the importance of situated knowledge.