Diasporic communities’ participation in built heritage management: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Community participation in heritage management is increasing. Actively participating communities, groups, and individuals can help identify and protect values and attributes that convey these values and guide sustainable management. However, how can diasporic communities participate in built heritage management? In addition to existing studies on community participation in built heritage management, this systematic literature review draws from 106 scholarly articles and distils how diasporic communities participate in built heritage management. The results categorise four relationships between diasporic communities and built heritage, from the conservation of built heritage, the reconstruction and design of diasporic spaces and places, and the use of built environments as venues, to the representation and interpretation of built environments. The five categories of research trends summarised in this study represent multidisciplinary research interests, including the analysis of well-implemented heritage management strategies, reflections on challenges in managing participatory heritage practices, studies on creating community-centred heritage, the design of participatory methods and tools, and surveys on future-oriented heritage preferences. Strategies and challenges related to twenty factors of participation are identified through SWOT analysis, revealing strengths (heritage initiatives, participation, and sense of identity), weaknesses (regulation, authorised heritage discourse, and resources), opportunities (participation, sense of identity, and resources), and threats (stakeholders’ interests/relationships, authorised heritage discourse, and resources), followed by a discussion of cross-domain factors and interconnectedness. The findings can be considered, referenced, and adapted for future participatory built heritage management that engages diasporic communities. This study also discusses current research limitations and recommendations.