Using Cultural Heritage as a Tool in Post-war Recovery:Assessing the Impact of Heritage on Recovery in Post-war Dubrovnik, Croatia

Cultural heritage is a significant aspect of both conflict and the recovery from conflict, but its role in shaping and influencing the post-conflict landscape has not been fully explored conceptually, nor has its role been fully implemented into recovery processes by practitioners. This thesis explores the disjuncture that exists between heritage theorists’ conceptualisation of cultural heritage as a cultural process, and practitioners’ tendency to privilege material reconstruction. By bridging cultural heritage and post-conflict literatures, the thesis presents the foundations for a holistic approach to cultural heritage in post-conflict settings. An Integrated Heritage Assessment Framework (IHAF) is developed to operationalise this holistic conceptualisation. This thesis makes three key contributions to the fields of cultural heritage studies and conflict studies. The first is a substantial contribution to the literature by reconceptualising the use of heritage in post-conflict recovery to argue for a shift away from reductive uses of heritage as cultural property towards more expansive notions of heritage as a process that can actively influence the course of recovery. Secondly, and building upon this conceptual foundation, the thesis has created and tested a methodological framework, the IHAF, capable of balancing recovery practitioners’ and policy-makers’ priorities with a nuanced conceptualisation of heritage. The purpose of this framework is to identify what impact heritage has on recovery, in order to reposition heritage as an active component of recovery processes, and remove it from being perceived as passive recipient of damage and restoration. The third aspect of the thesis applies the IHAF to the case study of Dubrovnik, Croatia, demonstrating the impact of heritage in three key areas of the city’s recovery. This assessment of Dubrovnik’s physical, economic and socio-political recovery viewed through the active lens of heritage adds an important new perspective on the Old Town’s long term narrative of recovery and reconciliation. The thesis demonstrates the importance of the Integrated Heritage Assessment Framework and its potential broader application to different conflicts, and in doing so, puts heritage firmly at the heart of post-conflict recovery.