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Challenges of Heritage Development Projects in Macau and Penang: Preservation and Anti-Preservation

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Dynamics of Community Formation

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Abstract

This chapter critiques what easily happens when heritage preservation is considered primarily for the purpose of tourist development rather than the needs and values of local residents. The analytic proposed, in two Asian case studies (Macau SAR, China; and Penang, Malaysia) is that houses—so often the key focal point of both preservation projects and heritage narratives—all too often end up cleaned up and emptied out in what amounts to an inappropriately universal modernist emphasis on an objectified material design aesthetic that minimizes lived experiences and identities. Despite good intentions, such projects easily distance heritage away from local uses toward a more general and standardized type of globalized commercialization/commodification of history and culture despite recently widespread efforts to preserve more “intangible” aspects of heritage.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China

    Peter Zabielskis

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  1. Peter Zabielskis
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College at Oneonta, The State University of New York, Oneonta, New York, USA

    Robert W. Compton, Jr.

  2. College at Oneonta, The State University of New York, Oneonta, New York, USA

    Ho Hon Leung

  3. Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, Connecticut, USA

    Yaser Robles

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© 2018 The Author(s)

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Zabielskis, P. (2018). Challenges of Heritage Development Projects in Macau and Penang: Preservation and Anti-Preservation. In: Compton, Jr., R., Leung, H., Robles, Y. (eds) Dynamics of Community Formation. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53359-3_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53359-3_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-53358-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-53359-3

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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