Papers by Elisabete Cidre
Journal of Urban Design, 2016
European Spatial Research and Policy, 2015
This article analyses the structure of heritage conservation in the national context of Portugal.... more This article analyses the structure of heritage conservation in the national context of Portugal. It assesses the political context in which planning operates, and the place of conservation and heritage planning within the planning system. By exploring how heritage conservation discourses developed within the national planning framework it is possible to understand the emergence of conservation practices and to consider recommendations for improved efficiency. The World Heritage cities in Portugal inform this research, as its designation should stand for best historic practices, internationally recognized and thus also compliant to an internationally coherent approach towards conservation policies. The narrative unveils a regulatory legislative framework exposed in general considerations rhetorically formulated as policy, usually setting out objectives and requirements, but saying ‘very little about the methodologies to be followed in the preparation of the plans’ (Rosa Pires 2001, ...
In: Urban Heritage, Development and Sustainability: International Frameworks, National and Local Governance, 2016
This chapter tells a story of urban heritage conservation in Tunis focusing on the articulation o... more This chapter tells a story of urban heritage conservation in Tunis focusing on the articulation of imported and home grown knowledge practices in the creation of Tunisian legislation and institutions for the sauvegarde et mise en valeur du patrimoine culturel (safeguarding and economic valorisation of cultural heritage). The text is based on archival research and fieldwork interviews carried out by Nardella as part of a PhD dissertation and developed as a paper with Cidre. Through narratives of colonial rule of law (Riles
1995), cultural heritage conservation, sustainable urban development (Unesco 1996)
and intellectual cooperation in the euro-mediterranean region (Pace 2007), we explore how, from the French colonial period (1881-1956) to the independent State (1956-present), international normative frameworks intersect with political processes and local practice structures and systems. Our narrative sidelines the self- representations of bureaucratic rationality in order to uncover more about the inner workings of the development agencies (Lewis and Mosse 2006: 3). It is supported by the voices of primary actors, following the anthropology of development critique that insists on the primacy of contingent practice over the conceptual work of policy (op.cit.).
What do International Organisations (IOs) mean by policy categories as ‘legislative reform’ and ‘institutional strengthening’? How do actors themselves reflect on reasons for failure in implementation? And, how can we understand what seems a standstill in urban conservation and development policy implementation other than as governance failure?
To answer these questions we start by interrogating the genealogy of heritage law and its institutions, further accounting how regimes ideologies intersect with urban conservation processes. By exploring selected development projects relating IOs accounts of success and failure with relevant actors’ voices, this story then illustrates how international policy tends to gloss over the historical and epistemological reasons underpinning institutional conflict and legislative impasses. The narrative highlights instances where disjunctures between urban conservation planning policy and practice become evident before reflecting on what lessons can be learned from Tunis as an established laboratory for urban conservation and development.
Uploads
Papers by Elisabete Cidre
1995), cultural heritage conservation, sustainable urban development (Unesco 1996)
and intellectual cooperation in the euro-mediterranean region (Pace 2007), we explore how, from the French colonial period (1881-1956) to the independent State (1956-present), international normative frameworks intersect with political processes and local practice structures and systems. Our narrative sidelines the self- representations of bureaucratic rationality in order to uncover more about the inner workings of the development agencies (Lewis and Mosse 2006: 3). It is supported by the voices of primary actors, following the anthropology of development critique that insists on the primacy of contingent practice over the conceptual work of policy (op.cit.).
What do International Organisations (IOs) mean by policy categories as ‘legislative reform’ and ‘institutional strengthening’? How do actors themselves reflect on reasons for failure in implementation? And, how can we understand what seems a standstill in urban conservation and development policy implementation other than as governance failure?
To answer these questions we start by interrogating the genealogy of heritage law and its institutions, further accounting how regimes ideologies intersect with urban conservation processes. By exploring selected development projects relating IOs accounts of success and failure with relevant actors’ voices, this story then illustrates how international policy tends to gloss over the historical and epistemological reasons underpinning institutional conflict and legislative impasses. The narrative highlights instances where disjunctures between urban conservation planning policy and practice become evident before reflecting on what lessons can be learned from Tunis as an established laboratory for urban conservation and development.
1995), cultural heritage conservation, sustainable urban development (Unesco 1996)
and intellectual cooperation in the euro-mediterranean region (Pace 2007), we explore how, from the French colonial period (1881-1956) to the independent State (1956-present), international normative frameworks intersect with political processes and local practice structures and systems. Our narrative sidelines the self- representations of bureaucratic rationality in order to uncover more about the inner workings of the development agencies (Lewis and Mosse 2006: 3). It is supported by the voices of primary actors, following the anthropology of development critique that insists on the primacy of contingent practice over the conceptual work of policy (op.cit.).
What do International Organisations (IOs) mean by policy categories as ‘legislative reform’ and ‘institutional strengthening’? How do actors themselves reflect on reasons for failure in implementation? And, how can we understand what seems a standstill in urban conservation and development policy implementation other than as governance failure?
To answer these questions we start by interrogating the genealogy of heritage law and its institutions, further accounting how regimes ideologies intersect with urban conservation processes. By exploring selected development projects relating IOs accounts of success and failure with relevant actors’ voices, this story then illustrates how international policy tends to gloss over the historical and epistemological reasons underpinning institutional conflict and legislative impasses. The narrative highlights instances where disjunctures between urban conservation planning policy and practice become evident before reflecting on what lessons can be learned from Tunis as an established laboratory for urban conservation and development.