And here really is what’s wrong with even thinking about heritage as tourism: it allows for heritage conservation to be about creating pockets of affluence in cities that are everything but. As if taking something out of context, as if a grand new mall, or a fine dining restaurant, a bridge that connects Binondo to Intramuros, will erase the stench of the Pasig River, or allow us to forget the squatters’ area nearby, or make us all feel safer about the city we inhabit. It seems that as far as this discussion of heritage and tourism is concerned, our tendency is not just to dream, but to forget common sense altogether.

That’s bullshit.

I don’t agree with all of what JunJun is planning in Intramuros, especially his connection between Clark Quay and Maestranza (instead I’ve offered San Antonio and San Sebastian as working models).

But her conclusion is complete and utter crap. Where do we start then? We need symbols of national unity, we need areas that make people proud to be Filipino. This reductive and simplistic ‘heritage is of the elites and the poor don’t have time for it’ attitude as got to go. Culture and history are the province of all Filipinos, without we don’t have a nation. Her reasoning, at least the underlying assumption, that we shouldn’t focus on heritage conservation while the country is impoverished is an intellectually bankrupt notion that foregoes the need for understanding context and history in reconstructing our country. Just because someone is poor we shouldn’t try and feed their souls? Feed their bodies, but ignore their hearts and minds? I don’t think so. We preserve what we have because it is who we are. Regardless of how impoverished the country is, regardless of how poor its people are. She raised some interesting points that were completely and totally discarded by that last paragraph.

More than that she completely misses the fact that redeveloping areas actually helps in urban renewable and redevelopment. I offer Bilbao as a prime example.

She completely misses the connection between rebuilding Intramuros and the work on the Pasig; she completely misunderstands what heritage tourism actually is. That is best illustrated by her comment about a ‘new grand mall.’ In what realm of common sense is a new mall heritage tourism? The idea of Maestranza (if that is what she is criticizing) is to turn it into a showplace for Filipiniana goods. That is what has been presented to me and that is what the discussions have centered around.

A hack job by someone who barely understands the intricacies of heritage conservation and preservation, much less its importance to urban renewal and redevelopment.

(Source: galeriaderojo)