Réflexions à propos du patrimoine urbain en Asie du Sud-Est, sur le versant de l’« UNESCO-isation »

Abstract

Far from occupying a prevailing position in the field of preservation of the ancient centres of active cities in South-East Asia, UNESCO is nevertheless gaining in influence through programmes open to the socio-economic and environmental aspects of urban heritage protection. Observing this trend and its implications for the internationalisation of the heritage field in South-East Asia, the present article addresses two themes: the entry of heritage interventions into the world of urban projects, and the internationalisation of the heritage vocabulary used to qualify spaces, with the translation issues raised by expressions such as « cultural landscape » and « creative city » ensuring their assignment to related intervention programmes. These reflections are based in particular on a critical reading of the contributions to the book UNESCO in Southeast Asia. World Heritage Sites in Comparative Perspective edited by Victor T. King (2016a)—an author from whom we borrow the term “UNESCO-isation”.

Keywords

• Angkor
• Askew Marc
• Bangkok
• Chiang Mai
• Chinatown
• city