Cultural heritage conservation and management in historic districts by participatory process: A case study of Songkhla Old Town

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to study and analyze the phenomena of cultural heritage conservation and management that applies participatory approach in Songkhla Old Town. This article contains qualitative research which has been systematically analyzed from academic papers, field survey, and in-depth interview of stakeholders. The study shows that Songkhla Heritage Trust is capable of working with both local government and private sectors which can subsidize and launch the project in an appropriate time. However, Songkhla Old Town still has the obstacles, including, inadequate legal measures regarding the authenticity of heritage buildings, lack of process to bring new generation collaboration, and lack of leader who is accepted by all groups of people. Besides, the conservation of Songkhla has been implemented based on the concept of “Volunteers from Social Capitals”; therefore, even though everyone is free to participate, it is not sustainable enough. These problems may lead to increased numbers of stakeholders and overlapped projects.
This article proposes two main recommendations for Songkhla Old Town and for duplication to other similar conservative areas. The first recommendation is to bring all stakeholders to set the system of cultural heritage management by setting the taskforce from representatives of each group with Songkhla Town Municipality acting as facilitator. The second recommendation is to reckon the main issue by following these three steps to create participatory process including (1) assessment on relationships of 3 levels of social capitals, (2) local norm and beliefs analysis, and (3) cultural capital analysis to link with local norm and belief.