Local Heritage Enclave within National Historic Settings: The Struggle of Wat Ratchanadda Community in Conservation

Abstract

The old town of Bangkok, also known as Rattanakosin, has always been a remarkable conservation area, comprised of a series of heritage buildings with a fine-grained historical atmosphere. A number of tourism development plans and strategies have been designed by agencies local and national, in order to ensure Rattanakosin’s status quo as a popular tourist destination. However, as local enclaves set within the context of national heritage, the voices of several historic communities in the area have been overtaken by the grand historical-national narratives. Because they are not included as a part of grand historical-national discourse, some local communities are at risk, due to the influx of tourism, which is rapidly changing the authenticity of their settings. Through a case study of Wat Ratchanadda community, the authors try to examine the conservation process through the quasioperational academic field work conducted during April 2012 – March 2013 in order to encourage local people to maintain the survival of their own heritage. This research mainly aims to study the change in community conservation process via participatory approach, and to obtain knowledge of conservation through academic groundwork. Hence, the community conservation taskforce emerges, addressing four strategies: local historiography, building inventory, clustering conservation network, and defining community  evelopment plan. The authors highlight three elements to envisage local heritage survivals: 1) ability to define the heritage value (art of articulating history), 2) degree and rigorous movement of allies in conservation, and 3) securing land tenure.