Every place, like every person, has its distinctive character, and this is often determined by the place’s features such as streets, hedges, archaeological sites, buildings or place names. Understanding a place’s historic character is one of the starting points for deciding its future. The essence of characterisation is that understanding the character of places, how they came to be as they are, is the first step in working out how places can be made better in the future.
“Characterisation” is already a widely-used tool for helping us to form an overview of an area as a framework for sustainable decisions on managing change. English Heritage has used it in places as diverse as Cornwall and Lancashire for the rural landscape and for archaeological remains below towns; we are now starting to extend it to the townscapes of our major cities such as Lincoln and Liverpool, and for areas of major new expansion such as the South East England Housing Growth Areas. Our projects, carried out wherever possible with local government partners, are is GIS (Geographical Information System) map-based, flexible and interactive. They do not rush to value-judgement or designation, and is not restricted to special buildings or places – instead they find out what is typical and representative, analyse context and encourage a light touch on the tiller of change. It is this that makes characterisation not a constraint or an obstacle, but an aid to change.
One great advantage of characterisation is that it can open up heritage and its management to more varied and multiple viewpoints, popular and community-based as well as specialist and expert-led. In effect, it says “this is our view of what distinguishes this particular place - do you share that view, what is your view?”. Characterisation invites dialogue, and its openness to different perspectives is one of its most important opportunities.
Characterisation is not about wider or stronger constraints, but about finding new constructive and effective ways to manage change. It complements well-tested methods of listing, yet it is different, offering insight and information without prejudging future change. It gives us the big picture, a useful tool for influencing change across all the historic environment rather than assiduously guarding a few highlights. Characterisation promises to help reinvigorate places without spoiling them, to improve quality of life, and to produce a rich legacy for the future.
Successful characterisation depends on partnership and participation. It will be most useful, and most influential, where carried out by those who will use its results: local communities, all levels of government, and developers, owners and business.
Characterisation in the Thames Gateway
One area where historic landscape characterisation is helping to inform decision-making is the Thames Gateway; the ‘Growth Area’ east of London identified by the Government for major new development. The ongoing and planned regeneration of this area presents unique challenges and opportunities for the conservation and enhancement of the historic environment. The Thames Gateway historic landscape characterisation project is the largest such study ever undertaken, in direct response to the scale of the development framework required by planners and decision-makers. At a time when we are going to ask the landscape to work harder than perhaps ever before, characterisation is a vital first step in identifying the capacity that specific places have to accommodate change and the historic assets available that will help to create successful new communities.
More detailed guidance on characterisation is currently being prepared and will be available on this website shortly. For more information see the related links in the right hand column.
