Inhabited Living Heritage: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding and Preserving the Continuity of Dwelling in Historic Houses

Document Type : Original

Authors

1 PhD Candidate in Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shahid Beheshti University

2 Associate Professor, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shahid Beheshti University

Abstract

The concept of "living heritage" goes beyond a material- based or constructivist perspective on heritage, emphasizing the continuous relationship between inhabited communities and their heritage. This study introduces the concept of "Inhabited living heritage," aiming to construct a conceptual framework grounded in existing theoretical literature on living heritage, and refining it by utilizing the concepts of "continuity and change," "spatial practice," and "habitus" from Henri Lefebvre and Pierre Bourdieu. This approach seeks to understand how successive generations experience life in historic homes. The findings of this research highlight the role of the inhabited community and the continuity of daily activities in the process of producing and reproducing space and sustaining dwelling in residential heritage. It also introduces examples of historical houses in Iran to illustrate how these concepts can be employed to understand inhabited living heritage. According to this study, the dwelling continuity in inhabited living heritage is achieved when residents, through their daily lives and the repetitive enactment of cultural and familial practices in space, reproduce tangible and intangible heritage and adapt spaces to meet contemporary needs. This ongoing process of change and continuity occurs uniquely in each spatial and temporal context, leading to the preservation and strengthening of heritage. Thus, inhabited living heritage provides a foundation for the continuity of experiences and the manifestation of individual and collective identity, necessitating a bottom-up, inside-out approach to heritage preservation, and participation and active resident involvement in this process.

Keywords

References

 بوتیک هتل خانۀ بلند ۱۳۹۸.https://torabhome.com/projects/boland-house/ (دسترس در ۱۲ تیر ۱۴۰۴)
 بوتیک هتل خانۀ حیات ۱۳۹۷. https://torabhome.com/projects/hayat-house(دسترس در ۱۲ تیر ۱۴۰۴)
 حسنی نالوسی، سارا. گفت‌وگوی شخصی با ثنا یزدانی (فروردین ۱۴۰۲). تهران.
 طباطبائی، علی. گفت‌وگوی شخصی با ثنا یزدانی (تیر ۱۴۰۴)، تهران.
 فردانش، فرزین، پریسا محمدحسینی، علی‌اکبر حیدری. ۱۳۹۳. تحلیل فرهنگی خانۀ سلماسی تبریز براساس نظریۀ رپوپورت. نشریۀ مطالعات معماری ایران، ش. ۵: ۸۱ـ۹۹.
 لطفی خاچکی، طاهره و علی یوسفی. ۱۴۰۱. تحلیل انتقادی نظریۀ تمایز بوردیو با رویکردی فرانظری. پژوهشنامۀ انتقادی متون و برنامه‌های علوم انسانی ۲۲ (۱): ۳۳۳ـ۳۵۳.
 لوفور، آنری. ۱۳۹۷. تولید فضا. ترجمۀ منوچهر شیبانی. تهران: انتشارات علمی فرهنگی.
 لوفور، آنری. ۱۳۹۹. تحلیل ریتم: زمان، فضا و زندگی روزمره. ترجمۀ وحید رهنما. تهران: نشر بیدگل.
 لوفور، آنری. ۱۴۰۰. انقلاب شهری. ترجمۀ مسعود کیان‌پور. تهران: نشر نی.
 مرتاض هجری، محمد، سید عباس یزدانفر، سید باقر حسینی. ۱۴۰۰. بررسی روابط متقابل سبک زندگی و سازمان فضایی خانه، مورد مطالعه: خانه‌های مسکونی شهرستان رشت. نشریۀ مطالعات معماری ایران، ش. ۱۹: ۱۹۳ـ۲۱۳.
 هادی‌پور مرادی، مژگان، مسعود ناری قمی، ساناز رهروی پوده، مریم قاسمی سیچانی. ۱۴۰۲. تأثیرات شیوۀ زندگی زنان قوم لر بر تعریف عرصه‌های خصوصی و جمعی در خانه‌های تاریخی قاجاری خرم‌آباد. نشریۀ مطالعات معماری ایران، ش. ۲۴: ۷۷ـ۱۰۷.
 Bourdieu, Pierre.1977. Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Bourdieu, Pierre. 1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Translated by Richard Nice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
 Bourdieu, Pierre. 1990. The Logic of Practice. Translated by Richard Nice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
 Bourdieu, Pierre. 1998. Practical Reason: On the Theory of Action. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. 2003. Paris: UNESCO.
 Crossley, N. 2003. From reproduction to transformation: Social movement fields and the radical habitus. Theory, Culture & Society 20 (6): 43–68.
 Gueissaz, P., Steinmann, M., and Zurbuchen, B. 2013. Le patrimoine habité. Transformations de bâtiments dans le Jura Vaudois. Lausanne: Presses Polytechniques et Universitaires Romandes.
 Halbwachs, M. 1950/1980. The collective memory. New York City: Harper & Row Colophon Books.
 Hillier, J., and Rooksby, E. 2016. Habitus: A sense of place (2nd ed.). London:Routledge.
 ICCROM. 2013. Living Heritage Sites Program. Rome: ICCROM, 2003
 Kimball, M. 2013. Fostering Local Futures: Place Building Theory and the Living Heritage.
Paradigm. Applied Anthropologist 33 (2): 4- 15.
 Knapp, R. G., and Lo, K.-Y. (Eds.). 2005. House, home, family: Living and being Chinese. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
 Leach, Neil, ed. 1997. Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory. London: Routledge.
 Leckie, G. J., and Given, L. M. 2010. Henri Lefebvre and spatial dialectics. In Critical theory for library and information science: Exploring the social from across the disciplines. Libraries Unlimited.
 Lefebvre, Henri. 1974. La Production de l’espace. Paris: Anthropos.
 Lefebvre, Henri.1991a. Critique of Everyday Life I: Introduction. London: Verso.

 Lefebvre, Henri. 1991b. The Production of Space. Trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith. Oxford: Blackwell.

 Lefebvre, Henri. 2004. Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life. Trans. Stuart Elden & Gerald Moore. London: Continuum.

 Lefebvre, Henri. 2003. The Urban Revolution. Trans. Robert Bononno. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

 Lenzerini, F.2011. Intangible cultural heritage: The living culture of peoples. The European Journal of International Law 22(1): 101-120.
 Lowenthal, D. 1998. The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History. London: Cambridge University Press.
 Maton, K. 2012. Habitus. In Pierre Bourdieu: Key concepts, revised edition. London: Acumen, pp. 48–64.
 Ndoro, W.2018. Expanding concepts of cultural heritage: Conservation and management of archaeological heritage resources, In A. Heritage & J. Copithorne (Eds.), Sharing conservation decisions: Current issues and future strategies,15–22. Rome, Italy: ICCROM.
 Orbasli, A. 2002. Tourists in historic towns: Urban conservation and heritage management. London: Taylor & Francis.
 Poulios, Yannis. 2008. Living Sites: The Past in the Present – The Monastery of Meteora, Greece: Towards a New Approach to Conservation. Rome, Italy: ICCROM.
 Poulios, Yannis. 2010a. Moving Beyond Values-Based Approaches to Heritage Conservation. Rome, Italy: ICCROM.
 Poulios, Ioannis. 2010b. Conserving living religious heritage: Maintaining continuity and embracing change – The Hindu temples of Tanjore, Srirangam, and Tirupati in India. South Asian Arts Journal. http://www.southasianarts.org/2010/10/conserving-livingreligious-heritage_15.html (Accessed 2025,11,14)
 Poulios, Ioannis. 2011. Is Every Heritage Site a “Living” One? Linking Conservation to Communities Association with Sites, The Historic Environment: Policy & Practice 2 (2e):144–156.
 Poulios, Ioannis. 2014a. The past in Present: A living Heritage Approach – Meteora, Greece. London: ubiquity press.
 Poulios, Ioannis. 2014b. Discussing Strategy in Heritage Conservation: Living Heritage Approach as an Example of Strategic Innovation. Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development 4: 16–34. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-10-2012-0048 (Accessed 2025,11,14)
 Poulios, Ioannis. 2018. On the greatest challenge in the management of living religious heritage: Linking the authenticity of heritage and the authenticity of tourist experiences to the authenticity of religious tradition. In Transdisciplinary Multispectral Modeling and Cooperation for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, 262-271.
 Poulios, Ioannis. 2019. On the Greatest Challenge in the Management of Living Religious Heritage: Linking the Authenticity of Heritage and the Authenticity of Tourist Experiences to the Authenticity of Religious Tradition. In Transdisciplinary Multispectral Modeling and Cooperation for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage: TMM ـ CH 2018, Athens, Greece, October 10–13, 2018, Revised Selected Papers, Part I, Communications in Computer and Information Science, Vol. 939. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12960-6_17 (Accessed 2025,11,14)
 Poulios, Ioannis. 2020. Managing “Difficult” Intangible Heritage through the Application of the Living Heritage Approach: Reflections on the Documentary Film Silent Witness about the Prison in the City of Trikala, Greece. In E. Solomon & E. Apostolidou (Eds.), Museums, Education and ‘Difficult’ Heritage, MuseumEdu 6. University of Thessaly, MuseumEduLab.
 Rajagopalan, M. 2012. Competing preservation and modernity: Contested histories and the question of Authenticity. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:147942374 (Accessed 2025,11,14).
 Rodwell, D. 2007. Conservation and sustainability in historic cities. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
 Rosato, G. C. 2022. Family-owned heritage houses or inhabited monuments? A peculiar case of living heritage in Southern Italy, International Journal of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences Studies (7) 12: 1-8.
 Shields, R. 1999. Lefebvre, love, and struggle: Spatial dialectics. London: Routledge.Smith, L. Uses of heritage. Routledge, 2006.- Smith, L. 2006. Uses of heritage. Routledge.
 UNESCO. 1976. Recommendation Concerning the Safeguarding and Contemporary Role of Historic Areas. Nairobi: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
 UNESCO. 1982. Mexico City Declaration on Cultural Policies. Mexico City: World Conference on Cultural Policies (MONDIACULT).
 UNESCO. 1994. Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention. Paris: UNESCO. https://whc.unesco.org/en/guidelines/ (Accessed 2025, 11, 14).
 UNESCO. 2017. UNESCO moving forward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (BSP-2017/WS/1). UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000247785 ـ eng
 UNESCO. 2003. Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. UNESCO. https://ich.unesco.org/en/convention
 Warde, Alan. 2017. Practice and Field: Revising Bourdieu’s Concepts. In Consumption. Consumption and Public Life. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 105_126.
 Wijesuriya, Gamini. 2003. The Programme on Living Heritage Sites. Rome, Italy: ICCROM.
 Wijesuriya, Gamini. 2005. The Past is in the Present: Perspectives in Caring for Buddhist Heritage Sites in Sri Lanka. In Conservation of Living Religious Heritage: Papers from the ICCROM 2003 Forum on Living Religious Heritage: Conserving the Sacred, 30–43. Rome, Italy: ICCROM.
 Wijesuriya, Gamini. 2007. Conserving Living Tongas: A Continuity Approach. Rome, Italy: ICCROM.
 Wijesuriya, Gamini. 2008. An Integrated Approach to Heritage Conservation and Management. Rome, Italy: ICCROM.
Wijesuriya, Gamini. 2010. Conservation in Context. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Conservation and Preservation Interaction between Theory and Practice, In memoriam Alois Riegl (1858–1905), 233–248. Vienna: Edizioni Polistampa.
 Wijesuriya, Gamini. 2015. Living Heritage: A Summary (Annex 1). Rome, Italy: ICCROM.
Journal of Iranian Architecture Studies
Volume 14, Issue 28
March 2026
Pages 83-111

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics