Reconciling Aesthetic Value and Social Value: Dilemmas of Interpretation and Application

Author(s): Ken Taylor

Source: APT Bulletin, Vol. 30, No. 1, Landscape Preservation Comes of Age (1999), pp. 51-55
Published by: Association for Preservation Technology International (APT)
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Reconciling Aesthetic Value and Social Value:

Dilemmas of Interpretation and Application
KEN TAYLOR

Introduction
Philosophical problems of the application of aesthetic value in establish-

Australian cultural heritage practice

ing cultural significance of places infocuses on the conservation of places

Australian heritage conservation

practice are currently topical and
have particular reference to
landscape.

rather than sites, buildings, or monu-

versal value for world heritage nomination in the early 1990s.'

Burra Charter Values

ments. This means that landscapes,

Cultural significance in Australian pracbuildings, and sites can be seen in their
tice is defined through analysis of four
cultural context and setting with associvalues: aesthetic, historic, social, and
ated social-history values, as well as
scientific, which are not mutually exclutheir physical fabric connotations. Hersive. These values are integral to the
itage places therefore become more thanAustralia ICOMOS Burra Charter
separate dots on a map, a critical factor
(1979, revised 1984 and 1988) and are
in the assessment and analysis process
incorporated into the Guidelines to the
leading to a statement of significance.
Burra Charter (1984, revised 1988).2
The shift from the European Venice
They had previously been adopted by the
Charter's emphasis on works of high art
Australian Heritage Commission Act of
and ancient monuments to a wider
1975 for the purposes of defining places
understanding of the concept of cultural
for inclusion in the Register of the Nasignificance has marked North Ameritional Estate and are incorporated into
can and Australian practice. Intereststate and territory heritage legislation.
ingly, this New World movement played
Increasingly attention has focused on
a major role in international discussions
the role and application of social and
leading to the inclusion of categories of
aesthetic values and their meaning to the
cultural landscapes of outstanding unicommunity in an attempt to clarify these
terms conceptually and in practice. In
1995 Haig Beck, a former Australian
Heritage Commissioner, discussed the
link between social and aesthetic values

of place. He proposed that heritage

experts rely on scholarship to test values
of a place, whilst communities rely on
sentimental attachment. He also suggested that social and aesthetic value are
held at arm's length by many heritage
professionals,3 in spite of the fact that
they are integral to the scope and meaning of heritage places. This has prompted
growing demand in communities to have
their voices heard, and there has been
increasing attention given in heritage
studies to involving community opinion,
particularly relating to social values.4
In the Guidelines to the Burra CharFig. 1. Old Parliament House, Canberra, 1982. Courtesy of National Capital Authority Photographic

ter: Historic Significance historic value

encompasses the history of aesthetics,

Library.

51

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52 APT BULLETIN

i. 't

the Burra Charter, but in all of the ways

in which we refer to the world around us

"4, "?

.,

= y " ? ... " ', ,., :'=

through experience and association.

Eagleton sees this as "simply the name
given to that hybrid form of cognition
which can clarify the raw stuff of percep-

tion and historical practice, disclosing the

? ., . ,.? : ? ? '" .. . ,, " , 4 ,. ' .?.,: .

... . : "", :ii

'

- ..

inner structure of the concrete."8

The aesthetic encompasses the idea of

the beautiful "where objects stand out in
a sort of perfection dimly akin to reason." 9 Unfortunately "aesthetic" became a substitute for "beautiful" in
early-nineteenth-century English, denot-

ing good taste (and hence bad taste as

the opposite, or even tastelessness,
where we do not expect a place to exhibit aesthetic value). For example, the
aesthetic value of landscape has become
Fig. 2. Throsby Park Wingecarribee, New South Wales, 1991,
historic
rural
pastoral
lan
hopelessly
entangled with
purely
visual
Settled by Europeans early in the colonial period, this area was crucial in providing basic a
images of the picturesque. Whilst this is
produce for the colony. Photograph by the author.
an extension of the eighteenth-century
concept of beauty and the picturesque, it
ignores the fact that beauty and utility
science and society, acknowledging
that
place has become the focus
of spiritual,
were inseparable in the concept. Landit largely underlies all the
other
terms
political,
national,
or other cultural
scape and place are a cultural construct,
(values). Historic value is
related
the
sentiment,
whilst to
aesthetic
value ina way of seeing, with attendant affecinfluence of, or by, a historic
figure,
cludes factors
relating to sensory perceptions and aversions, whereas we have
event, phase or activity,tion
orincluding
as the
site
scale,
color,of
texture, and
allowed the use of aesthetic value to be
material of the fabric.
an important event. Significance
of a
limited to formal abstract qualities that
place will be greater where evidence of
denote good taste.

the association or event survives or

Aesthetics: High Art or Context?

where settings are intact, but some

associations or events will

be has
soassumed
imporAesthetics
a high profile
tant that significance inheres
regardless
since the eighteenth
century. We refer to
of changes. This acknowledgment
places and objects asof
aesthetically pleaschange over time is important
ing or valuablebecause
to convey a particular
aesthetic value has often
idea been
and ideal.joined
But what are we trying to
with intactness of original
fabric,
convey?
In heritageparticpractice, as in everyularly in the case of structures.
day use, it is probably a most misused
Historic value allows ordinary
peo-superficially to a
term, too often applied
ple, places, and events to
be celebrated
predetermined
idea of what is assumed
to be an
and accorded significance;
inideal.
contrast,
aesthetic value has too often
Tonybeen
Eagleton,conin his critique of the
nected with high art or modern
whatdiscourse
is regarded
on aesthetic thought,
as stylistically pleasing.proposes
Historian
Chris
that "Aesthetics
is born as a
McConville has noted that some archidiscourse of the body" and that "the
tects are so preoccupied with style and
term refers not in the first place to art,
form that they conserve what is aestheti- but to the whole region of human perception and sensation, in contrast to the
cally pleasing and overlook what is
historically significant.5 Whilst there has more rarefied domain of conceptual
been a considerable shift to valuing the
thought."7 Eagleton suggests further that
aesthetics is to do with affections and
ordinary in Australian heritage practice
aversions, the whole of our sensate life,
for historic and social reasons,6 there is
still a tendency, particularly for buildwhich post-Cartesian philosophy has
ings, to concentrate on style. Social
managed to overlook. In this sense aesvalue embraces the qualities for which a thetics concerns sensory perception as in

Old Parliament House

For example, the Old Parliament House

(OPH), Canberra (Fig. 1), built in 1927
as a provisional building, was in use until
1988 when the new Parliament was

opened. A symmetrical building of simple, pleasing lines, it was extended on

each side of the front elevation in a style
similar to the original. The extensions
housed offices of important parliamentary figures, including the prime minister.
Prior to the conversion of OPH to a

parliamentary museum, a conservation

plan, completed in 1986,10 recommended
that the extensions be demolished as

inconsistent with the original architectural intention and detrimental to the

building's aesthetic value. This narrow

view of aesthetic value, related primarily
to the building's shape and form, ignored

social values. Ian McShane, of the Museum of Australia (which operates the
OPH museum), critiqued this minimizing
of the building's significance to its 1927

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RECONCILING AESTHETIC VALUE AND SOCIAL VALUE 53

form. McShane criticized the "purification of the site's past by the production of
an authoritative version of its history"
and the setting of conditions where the
authoritative history is transformed into

heritage. He relates this narrow view to

the concentration "on the aesthetic qualities of material forms [which are] held

[to] express some essential meaning

beyond the historic context in which they

are located, a meaning explained through

the vocabulary of architectural style." 11

Community groups, such as the

National Trust, and some nonarchitectural heritage-management
professionals objected to the plan as
ignoring the importance of change over
time and hence layers of social history
and social value. The plan claimed that
the extensions had little architectural

(italics added) merit: "Had these Fig.

addi3. Conrad Martens 1801-78, Australia, View of Throsby Park, c.1836, watercolor 46.2 x 67.4.
Private collection.
tions and modifications been provided
with a design integrity similar to that of
the 1927 concept, their heritage value
would be radically altered." 12 The
sympathetic
to the original and did not
reference to "integrity" is notable.
The
is recognition of the pattern."is
Guidelines to The Burra Charter: Condetract from the original architectural
Aesthetic value concerns experience
aesthetic intent in terms of line, form,
servation Policy ( Section 3 Developand the frameworks or patterns that
and balance. In 1989 the Federal Cabiment of Conservation Policy, paragraph
inform our experiences. Matters of
net decided that the former House of
3.2.1 Significant fabric) uses intactness
aesthetic response to, and social value
Representatives and Senate chambers
rather than integrity to "Establish or
of, places or objects involve critical
and King's Hall (connecting the chamconfirm the degree of intactness of the
engagement, that is participatory transbers) were to be the center of a museum
significant fabric." Historic value inaction or interest between people and
of political history and the extension
cludes reference to "settings that are
place/object. Both concern what Dolores
offices would accommodate several
substantially intact." The use of "inHayden in Power of Place refers to as
government agencies appropriate to the
tegrity" would be preferable to "intact"the power of place, the power ... to
character of the building. As a result, the nurture citizens' public memory, to
ness"; it is used by some Australian
extensions have remained as part of the encompass shared time in the form of
heritage professionals because integrity
has as much to do with association and
interpretative value and social value13 of shared territory."16 Both values are
the building and its gardens in their
social meaning as with physical fabric.
abundant in social and cultural meaning
presentation to the public.
Intactness, meaning untouched, unand sense of identity.
scathed, flawless, clearly links with
The eighteenth-century Cartesian
fabric and its physical condition. For
western tradition of the objectification
Overlapping Values
landscapes and places it is a limiting
of aesthetics, espoused by philosopher
The Old Parliament House example
Emmanuel Kant, deemed aesthetic
concept, given the way changes occur
questions whether aesthetic value can or appreciation to involve disinterest beand because landscapes are documents
should be separate from social value
of social history.
tween viewer and place or object. There
both intellectually and in practice.
The objections to the OPH Conservaare similarities in the modern growth of
Analogies with art appreciation, where
tion Plan focused on the concept of the
heritage consciousness that involves
social and historic values of the extenwe bring engagement and experience to
criteria such as form, scale, color, texbear on our aesthetic judgments, are
sions, recognizing the building as it
ture, and materials, itemized in the
evolved over time within the concept of
helpful.14 The link between engagement Guidelines to The Burra Charter: Culwith a subject and experience in art
Canberra as national capital and seat of
tural Significance. These criteria (which
appreciation is succinctly expressed by
parliamentary government and the
might be better termed components)
Alfred North Whitehead in Dialogues:
significant association of events, people
have abstract qualities related to sensory
"Art is the imposing of patterns on
and the place. It was also argued that
matters, hence having to do with feeling
experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment and experience, and the Guidelines
the extensions were architecturally

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54 APT BULLETIN

implications for heritage studies in

(utility). In this sense its aesthetic value
acknowledge sensory aspects. NevertheAustralian
urban conservation areas or is inextricably linked with its social
less the Guidelines invite factual
description of these criteria; they encourage
streetscapes. Most studies, in fact, in- value and its historic value. In 1820
clude
historic-value
and social-value
treatment of a building, for example,
as
Governor Lachlan Macquarie visited
an objective work of art ratherassessment
than as as crucial to the interpreta- this part of the colony and described this
historical evidence of cultural traditions
view: "We met a numerous herd of
tion of significance. Aesthetic values can

then be seen as an amalgam of the area's

and ways of life, often losing connection
about 400 head of cattle belonging to
with place meaning and sense of
identity
planning
history, physical layout, and Mr Throsby feeding in a fine rich
for the community.
building forms, blending components meadow .... The grounds adjoining
such the
as architectural line and form with Mr Throsby's hut are extremely pretty,
Aesthetic appreciation involves
association of ideas in the minds
cultural
of the
context.
gentle hills and dales with an extensive
observers or participants in a place
Many
and
of the 1970s and 1980s atrich valley in his front, the whole having
hence is indivisible from social
values.
tempts
to classify and rank landscape a very park-like appearance, being very
attractiveness
The eighteenth-century scholar
Richard added to the shallow view thinly wooded."23
of aesthetic
Payne Knight, with specific reference
tovalue. In a recent review of
An 1836 painting of the same scene
the picturesque, contended that
ThelandRise of Cultural Landscapes21
(Fig. 3) shows little change in the landscape was an association of ideas
Davidacutely
Jacques traces the shift from this scape over 160 years. Continuity, layers
involving the role of memory and
emoconcentration
on visual aspects of land-in the landscape, and connection with
tions, not merely a visual assemblage
scape value
of
with measurable ranked
the past - and not simply what the
abstract qualities such as line and
form.
objective
components to what is seen by
landscape looked like - make it valuJohn Dixon Hunt and Peter Willis
exJohn Dewey's
artist. Jacques refers to able to the local community. In this
plain this concept of seen landscape
as as "the acceptance of 'asso-sense aesthetic value is very much part
this process
of social value.
"a theory of association, a function
of
ciative' value
in landscape." In Aus-

the imagination."17 Such landscapes

tralian terms, associative value may be
may be seen to be "beautiful,"seen
but
as as
the integration of historic and Nourlangie, Kakadu National Park.
social value.
Steven Bourassa suggests "aesthetics
is Nevertheless, some assess- Debates on aesthetic value and social
not concerned only, or even primarily,
ments of Australian cultural landscapesvalue overlap also occur over natural
with beauty."18 John Dewey concurs:
still rely on visual aesthetic criteria and areas. Fig. 4 represents what is often
then attempt
to make the jump to sug- called a natural landscape, suggesting
Were it possible for an artist to approach
a
scene with no interests and attitudes,
no heritage values. Such studies tellno, or minimal, human management.
gesting
background of values, drawn from his
what a landscape looks like, but not
But do wholly natural landscapes or
prior experience, he might, theoretically see
what
has
occurred
in
the
process
of
wilderness
exist? For Aboriginal Auslines and colors exclusively in terms of
landscape-making,
who was involved, tralians they do not, as there are no
their relationships as lines and colors.
But
this is a condition impossible to fulfill.
when things occurred, and why. In other
parts of Australia that have not been
Moreover, in such a case there would be
words, interpretative value and associa-affected by Aboriginal people. It is now
nothing for him to become passionate
tive
values are ignored.
widely accepted that Australia's open
about. Before an artist can develop
his
reconstruction of the scene before him in
savanna eucalypt woodlands are a culterms of relationships of colors and
lines
Throsby
Park, Wingecarribee. Fig. 2 tural artifact resulting substantially from
characteristic of his picture, he observes the
shows an Australian pastoral landscape;
human management by burning for
scene with meanings and values brought
its
cultural
significance
relates
directly
to
possibly 60,000 years.24 Nourlangie
to his perception by prior experience.19
its social and historic values as a docu- Rock in Kakadu National Park in northAssociative Value

Aesthetic value has also become con-

ment of human history. Aesthetic value ern tropical monsoonal Australia is the
home of a remarkable collection of
relates to its physical form and to its
associative connections in the minds of Aboriginal rock art recording millennia

fused with ideas of design appreciation.observers. It represents the classic park- of human occupation. Like the whole of
Australia, this country2s is a cultural,
Most architecture and landscape archi- like, picturesque, pastoral landscape
tecture design texts rely on illustrationscelebrated in early colonial literature not a natural, landscape for the local
of famous examples of designed works.and paintings for its beauty and utility Aboriginal people, the Gagadju. The
creation of this and all Australian counThe cultural phenomenon of the Aus- but placed within a cultural context and
try dates from the Dreamtime, when it
tralian suburb is illustrative. Suburbia is historic setting. The Wingecarribee
Historic Landscape Study22 found this was formed by Aboriginal ancestors and
often the target of negative aesthetic
area to have high cultural significance mythical animals. In this way Aboriginal
comment. In contrast, a lively collection
for the local community because of an people feel indivisible from the country
of essays in Beasts of Suburbia: Reinterunderstanding of the influence of human
that nourishes them physically and
preting Cultures in Australian Suburbs20
management over time, why the land- spiritually.
shows suburbia as a rich and diverse
scape evolved, the sense of historic
Aboriginal people have traditionally
presentation of history and cultures.
used fire in hunting to herd animals and
This view of suburbia has significant layers, and its ongoing productivity

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RECONCILING AESTHETIC VALUE AND SOCIAL VALUE 55

Coincidentally, there is a need to

inquire into connections with social
value. It is tempting to question whether
a separate category of aesthetic value is
needed as it could be incorporated into
social value and linked to the main

umbrella of historic value. In any case,

aesthetic value must not be confined by
formal abstract qualities that encourage
the treatment of place as connoisseurs'
works of art.
Fig. 4. Nourlangie, Kakadu National Park,

Northern Territory, 1986. Photograph by KEN

the TAYLOR is professor of landscape
architecture and co-director of the Cultural

author.

Heritage Research Centre, University of Canberra, Australia. He has written extensively on

Australian cultural landscapes, their meanings
and heritage values, and has visited North
to encourage new grass growth for
America a number of times.

herbivores. It is what Rhys Jones, the

eminent Australian archaeologist, has
Notes
called "fire-stick farming,"26 a technique
still used in tropical northern Australia.

10. Howard Tanner and Associates, Provi-

sional Parliament House: The Conservation

Plan, Report to National Capital Development

Commission, Canberra, February 1986.

11. Ian McShane, "Order In The House"

Public History Review 1 (1992): 37-49.
12. Howard Tanner and Associates, 1986, 15.
13. Guidelines to the Burra Charter indicates
that other categories in addition to the four
stated values for understanding cultural signifi-

cance may be developed. In practice I have

found "interpretative value" useful. See Ken
Taylor, "Interpretative Values and Cultural
Landscapes: An Australian Perspective" CRM
17 (7:1994): 16-18.
14. See, for example, Arnold Berleant, "The
Aesthetics of Art and Nature" in Salim Kemal

and Ivan Gaskell, eds. Landscape, Natural

Beauty and the Arts (Cambridge Univ. Press,

1993), 228-243.

15. Alfred North Whitehead, Dialogues (London, Renhardt, 1954).

16. Dolores Hayden, The Power of Place.

1. For a review, see Sarah Titchen, "Towards Urban Landscapes as Public History (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1995).
the inclusion of cultural landscapes of outstandtry also means for Aboriginal people
the
ing universal
value on the World Heritage List,"
17. John Dixon Hunt & Peter Willis, eds., The
idea of cleaning the country: "Aborigines
ICOMOS Landscapes Working Group NewsGenius of the Place: The English Landscape
letter
7 Australasian Issue (March 1994): 20-24.
perceive an unburnt piece of ground
with
Garden 1620-1820 (London: Paul Elek, 1975),
The previous issue (6: September 1993) re342.

Jones points out that burning the coun-

tall dry grass, with its skin penetrating

viewed North American activities.
seeds and the lurking danger of snakes,
2. The Australia ICOMOS Charter for the
rather as we would a dirty untidy room.

18. Steven Bourassa, The Aesthetics of Landscape (London and New York: Belhaven Press,
Conservation of Places of Cultural Significance,
1991), xii.
They set fire to it to curate it, to look
Guidelines to the Burra Charter: Cultural

after it." 27 This raises the intriguing

Significance (Canberra, Australia ICOMOS,
1988).
notion of a sense of aesthetic attractive-

19. John Dewey, Art as Experience (New York:

Minton, Balch, 1934).

ness being cross-cultural, a kind of 3.mulH. Haig Beck, "Social and Aesthetic Values:
New assessment methodologies for involving
ticultural associative response where
the community," In Place 1 (October 1995): 15beauty and utility combine.
18.

20. Sarah Ferber, Chris Haeley and Chris

McAuliffe, Beasts of Suburbia: Reinterpreting
Cultures in Australian Suburbs (Melbourne:
Melbourne University Press, 1934).

4. For community input in a large-scale study,

see Ken Taylor and Caroline Tallents, "Cultural
Landscape Protection in Australia: the WingeHistoric value is, in effect, an umbrella
carribee Shire Study," International Journal of

21. David Jacques, "The Rise of Cultural

Landscapes" International Journal of Heritage
Studies 1 (2:1995): 91-101.

Conclusion

Heritage Studies 2 (3:1996): 133-144. See also

term for aesthetic value and social value.

Haig Beck (1995), in particular p.17, for outline

on Australian work in community participation

All three involve concepts of human

value and meaning of places and havemodels.
connections with community values.
5. Peter Donovan "How Historians Can Keep
They present opportunities for heritage
Heritage Architects Honest," Historic Environpractitioners to make contact with
ment 5 (4:1986): 8-14 citing Chris McConville,
community views and to encourage "In Trust?: Heritage and History," Melbourne
Historical Journal 16 (1984): 60-74.
community participation in assessing
6.
significance of places. In the light of a Ken Taylor, "Things We Want to Keep:
Discovering Australia's Cultural Heritage," D.
number of current assumptions on
Headon, J. Hooton, J, D. Horne, D., eds., The
aesthetic value shaped by historical Abundant Culture. Meaning and Significance in
frameworks and heritage practice, theEveryday Australia (Sydney: Allen and Unwin,
issue of connection with community is1995), 26-33.
particularly critical for aesthetic value. 7.ItTony Eagleton, The Ideology of the Aesthetic
(Oxford, U.K., Blackwell, 1995), 13.
is advisable to move away from a visual
definition of aesthetics to embrace a
8. Ibid., 16.
critical and deeper understanding of the
9. Ibid., 17.
role of people/place attachment and
engagement.

22. Ken Taylor and Caroline Tallents, 1996.

23. Lachlan Macquarie, Lachlan Macquarie,

Governor of New South Wales, Journals of His
Tours in New South Wales and Van Dieman's

Land 1810-1822 (1836; reprint 1956, Sydney:

Trustees of the Public Library of New South

Wales), 145-146.

24. See Tim Flannery, The Future Eaters. An

Ecological History of the Australian Lands and
People (Chatswood: Sydney Reed Books, 1994).
25. Aboriginal people refer to "country" not

"landscape."

26. Rhys Jones, "The Neolithic, Palaeolithic

and the Hunting Gardeners: Man and Land in
the Antipodes," Quaternary Studies: Selected
Papers from IX International Congress

INQUA, December 1973 (Royal Society of

New Zealand, 1975), 21-34.
27. Rhys Jones, "Ordering the Landscape" in
Iain and Tamsin Donaldson, eds. Seeing the
First Australians (Sydney: George Allen and
Unwin, 1985), 204.

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