Developing a sustainability appraisal for built heritage attractions in an emerging market: lessons from the UK and China

This research has developed a sustainability appraisal approach in relation to built heritage attractions in a mature market, with the possibility of applying it to an emerging heritage market. An approach involving stakeholders (attraction managers, third parties and visitors) was used to reduce assessment bias. A cross-national comparison approach using case studies in China and the UK has been employed in this research to identify the similarities and variability of sustainability management for built heritage attractions across widely different national contexts. This research can be divided into four stages. Firstly, the research developed a theoretical framework to understand the concepts of built heritage attractions and sustainability appraisal methodologies. Indicators in four areas of sustainability for built heritage were suggested: the economic dimension (employment, financial health and numbers of visitors), the environmental dimension (environmental management systems and heritage conservation), the social dimension (stakeholders’ involvement and attitudes), and the governance dimension (planning, troubleshooting and management). Secondly, a questionnaire-based survey was designed to provide information concerning the sustainability assessment of built heritage attractions across both China and the UK. Then, a six-step method for built heritage attraction sustainability appraisal was proposed, including: identifying sustainability indicators; identifying the key stakeholders; assigning weights to the indicators; scoring the indicators, calculating the overall weighted scores and examining the results. Thirdly, this appraisal approach was applied by comparing its practical application in four built heritage attractions: Chastleton House and Oxford Castle Heritage Site in the UK; Mountain Jieshi and Shanhai Pass in China. The fourth stage involved identifying the potential value, acceptability, implementation and international transferability of the developed approach. The findings identified several important variations and similarities in the cross-national context and made further recommendations for the development of a sustainability appraisal methodology for the management of built heritage attractions. This research has opened up new directions for both theoretical and empirical studies in the field of sustainability appraisal, which could substantially enhance the initial foundation established in this work. This research proposes a holistic approach to heritage tourism strategies in emerging heritage markets to help heritage attraction managers assess sustainability performance, to help authorities to design a set of heritage indicators, to help those involved in heritage conservation to involve stakeholders appropriately and to guide and monitor heritage conservation funding allocation.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Year dc:date

2016

Author dc:creator

• Ren, Wei

Contributors dc:contributor

• Glasson, John

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/phdw-jb52

OAI identifier oai:identifier

tle:915a653c-7095-498a-93b9-a93eb18f7015:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1