Editorial: Historic cities as living places

摘要

'History', Stephen said, 'is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake'.rnThe protagonist of Joyce's famous novel Ulysses was no doubt expressing a sentiment that has crossed many a municipal engineer's mind in moments of crisis. These moments of anguish may be brought on by the many and various challenges that face the numerous towns and cities across the globe that contain elements of historic fabric. Indeed, the definition of what is historic fabric is itself subject to contestation and argument. Most recently the UK government has issued new planning guidance (CLG, 2010) that refers to 'heritage assets', which, as one commentator has pointed out, can refer to things that 'actually do not have to be historic at all' (Adams, 2010).