The problem of sustainability and the historic city

The idea of the historic city has often been discussed through debates about conservation and development. In recent years some writers have discussed the idea of the historic city through concepts of sustainability and particularly the idea of social sustainability. However, although sustainability is important, the idea that local communities play a key role in the development of historic cities has been barely researched. The present paper fills this gap by looking at less well recognised investigations that have dealt with the way that different local communities have interacted and reinterpreted the urban heritage sites they live within or alongside. It is argued that more attention needs to be paid to the processual side of social life and the historic environment if issues of vitality, revitalisation and even sterility in the historic city are to be understood more readily.