New functionalism: rejuvenating historical and cultural heritage through urban revival

Abstract

The better protection and utilization of historical and cultural heritage sites, objects, and practices (especially intangible aspects of cultural heritage) based on anthropological research can work in the field of urban planning and design, an applied field with interdisciplinary cooperation, thus bringing new vitality to urban development. Additionally, the relationship between historical and cultural heritage and urban revival is not only binary opposition, but also coexistence and connection. Thus, this article does not highlight the dichotomy of tradition vs. modernity. After a critique of the inherited “view of cultural conservatism”, based on Malinowski’s classic and static “cultural functionalism”, Fei Xiaotong’s idea of “cultural development and utilization”, Li Peilin’s “continuous spectrum” theory and the “Wirth-Redfield” model, this paper puts forward a classic and dynamic theory of “new functionalism” that analyzes the relationship between historical and cultural heritage and urban revival through the new value of historical and cultural heritage in urban revival. The comparative cases focus on four domestic and foreign cities—— the City of York, England; Kyoto, Japan; Dali in Yunnan, China; and Haikou in Hainan, China—— and show that the protection and utilization of historical and cultural heritage is one of the core issues of urban revival. In this light, tangible historical and cultural heritage is the “body” and intangible heritage is the “soul” of urban areas. It is important to integrate the traditional “body” with the innovative “soul”. In urban revival, only when we protect and use sites of historical and cultural heritage well, and rejuvenate them for driving urban development, will the cities grow in a way that will be long-lived and healthy and along the path of sustainable development.