This edited collection argues for much-needed paradigm shift in heritage conservation theory and practice from its conventional, expert-driven approach to a people-centered methodology. This derives evidence on how ordinary communities perceive, participate in and relate to their historic environments, which could then lead to a more nuanced and holistic way for safeguarding cultural heritage. A must-read!

Dr. Kapila D. Silva, University of Kansas, USA.

In this timely and provocative collection of essays, leading heritage conservation scholars and practitioners work to bridge the divide between theory and practice and invite an important conversation on how to fashion a more empirical, evidence-based, pluralistic, and people-centered approach to preservation.

Wells and Stiefel have brought together an essential meeting of the minds and pointed the way forward to a more dynamic 21st century preservation movement informed by academic research and infused with grassroots energy.

Stephanie Meeks, President, National Trust for Historic Preservation

This book makes an important contribution to the broadening of conventional heritage studies beyond an academic and professional focus on top-down doctrine, policies and legal instruments to embrace the contemporary meanings and values that citizens attribute to their physical places and social spaces. Emphasising the importance of trans-disciplinary, evidence-based research, and conceptualising innovative, holistic approaches, the book anticipates the development of grass-roots-driven observances that would transform heritage preservation from an elitist enthusiasm backed by instruments of enforcement, into democratisation and common-ownership of preservation objectives and everyday practices.

Dennis Rodwell, Architect-Planner, Consultant in Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Urban Development