Empowerment and Enlightenment: The Practical Dimensions of Civic Heritage Narrative

Since UNESCOs vision for developing civic engagement tools in heritage management in the 2011 Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape, civic engagement has been considered one of the most important ways to promote the sustainable development of heritage. However, two primary obstacles have consistently hindered its effective implementation: the subjugation of authoritative power by international heritage organisations or national governments and conflicts arising from divergent notions of heritage designation and management at the same hierarchical level due to varied heritage concepts. This paper seeks to advance research on the prevalent civic engagement practice of narrating personal heritage stories, with the objective of addressing these existing challenges and enhancing the effective scope of civic engagement within the heritage sector. Through the literature review, which encompasses a thorough examination of contemporary theory and the various case studies of heritage narrative, this paper reveals that civic storytelling practices possess two dimensions: the empowerment narrative and the enlightenment narrative. These two dimensions can significantly mitigate tensions within communities and citizen groups while simultaneously tackling the issue of bureaucratic hegemony over heritage perception. With the additional discussion of these two dimensions, this study proposes The Collaborative Framework of the Civic Heritage Narrative Cycle as a tool for helping planners to develop narrative practices and foster the sustained advancement of heritage within an environment that is more democratic and communicates narratives