The The Impact of Non-Place-based Development on the Cultural Landscape of Villages; Destruction of Heritage, Values, and Identity (Case Study: Villages of Kuhdasht County)

Abstract

The cultural landscape, as a subsystem of the landscape, is influenced by rural development as a process towards village advancement. In recent years, the villages of Kuhdasht County in Lorestan, as villages caught between the duality of city and countryside, have been damaged by colonial development plans that, although adopted with the promise of rural improvement, have led to the destruction of the village identity. This article examines three villages—Khosrowabad, Pai Astan, and Abolvafa—in Kuhdasht County, Lorestan Province, through field observation. It appears that the development plans, without consideration of the village’s cultural landscape or merely objective attention to cultures, have undertaken actions under the illusion of development but have gradually altered or destroyed the heritage, values, and identity of the people. To protect the cultural landscape of villages as a form of development, it is necessary for development plans to be place-based and to consider the diversity and differences of cultures, with actions tailored to each specific area.

Keywords

• village cultural landscape
• development plan
• place
• non-place-based