Changing approaches to heritage: Track 1

If you could save one thing for posterity, what would it be? Your answer is likely to depend on the things you value. But the things that society values are changing all the time. The tracks on this album explore four different heritage stories. In the feature on the Lake District, we hear how the values of Wordsworth sometimes have to give way to the values of farmers. In two features on archaeology, we shine the spotlight on a discipline where there is increasing emphasis on the ordinary over the historic or spectacular. And in our feature on the memorial to the London July bombings, we hear from ordinary people in control of the design. The album also contains academic perspectives from Rodney Harrison, Lecturer in Heritage Studies at The Open University. This material forms part of The Open University Course AD281 Understanding global heritage. You can discover something of what it's like to study the course by using the downloadable 'activities' files to explore the concept of ‘World Heritage’, how it is defined, and conflicting interests in its management. You can also learn more about changing approaches to archaeology and heritage management, and the relationship between heritage and public memory.