Ph.D. research on Value Assessment successfully defended
On 27 October 2015, MACCH affiliated researcher Charlotte van Emstede successfully defended her Ph.D. thesisWaardestelling in de Nederlandse monumentenzorg 1981-2009 (Value assessment in Dutch conservation 1981-2009) at Delft University of Technology (TUD). Van Emstede carried out her research at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment of TUD.
She was supervised by Prof. Dr. Ir. Paul Meurs, Chair Heritage and Cultural Value at TUD, and Prof. Dr. Dirk Jan de Vries, Chair History of Building at Leiden University. The objective of Van Emstede’s research is to discover the conditions for a heritage value assessment in terms of content and process, so that it can serve as an effective framework for designing and reviewing architectural conservation plans. This objective was prompted by recent developments in Dutch conservation. Since the 2009 Policy Paper Modernisering Monumentenzorg (Modernisation of Conservation), the Dutch Government strives for a simplified heritage regulation and encourages adaptive reuse as a sustainable conservation strategy. Accordingly, Dutch heritage law and policy and the conservation organisation and planning systems are adapted to suit the new direction being taken. These developments call for a new understanding of architectural heritage values and an adapted process of value assessment.
To arrive at a contemporary approach to value assessment of architectural heritage, Van Emstede first studied the emergence, development and practical application of heritage value assessments in the Netherlands during the period 1981-2009. Second, she investigated the specific demands for value assessment that result from current conservation practice. Through literature study, archival research and a multiple case study, Van Emstede concluded that the current way of architectural heritage value assessment has a predominantly art historical focus. As a result, this approach omits relevant information on the architectural and socio-cultural aspects of built heritage that is required in current architectural conservation processes. Based on this knowledge, Van Emstede designed a model for an adapted value assessment procedure which incorporates these aspects as well.
The research presents new knowledge about the history of value assessment and its design and practical use within the Dutch practice of built heritage conservation. It advocates the approach of heritage conservation as an assignment in which next to the art historical and cultural historical heritage values of a building, an equally important role is reserved for its technical and socio-cultural aspects and its aesthetic and architectural qualities. This study therefore emphatically supports a multidisciplinary approach to architectural heritage conservation and shows a value assessment procedure that enables such an approach.
The Ph.D. thesis is available via the TUD website or via Amazon.