Affordances of heritage environment a conservation approach to hanoi ancient quarter in vietnam 1

AFFORDANCES OF HERITAGE ENVIRONMENT: A CONSERVATION APPROACH TO HANOI ANCIENT QUARTER IN VIETNAM NGO MINH HUNG BArch, UCE; Msc, AIT-Thailand... They have certain understandings on dev

AFFORDANCES OF HERITAGE ENVIRONMENT:

A CONSERVATION APPROACH TO

HANOI ANCIENT QUARTER IN VIETNAM

NGO MINH HUNG

(BArch, UCE; Msc, AIT-Thailand)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, the author expresses his profound gratitude and heartfelt appreciation to his study supervisors, Associate Professor Wong Yunn Chii (PhD), Head of Department of Architecture (DOA), Professor Heng Chye Kiang (PhD)- Dean of the School of Design and Environment (SDE), National University of Singapore (NUS), for their devoted guidance, constant encouragement, invaluable suggestions and constructive criticism, which put their students in the right tract since beginning to the end, without which this work could hardly have taken the present shape

Likewise, the author expresses his deep gratitude to the other members of the examination committee, Associate Professor Wong Chong Thai Bobby, Vice Dean of SDE and Associate Professor Johannes Widodo (PhD), Director of CASA, Associate Professor Joseph Lim, Deputy Head of DOA, NUS and Dr Lai Chee Kien, DOA, NUS for their kind help, useful and valuable comments The author expresses his sincere gratitude to the Department of Architecture, the Asia Research Institute and the International Relations Office of NUS for providing the scholarship, award and opportunities to study abroad for him

The author would like to extend special thanks to Dr Nguyen Dinh Toan, Director, Mr Ngo Trung Hai and Ms La Kim Ngan, Vice Directors of VIAP- MOC; Dr Nguyen Hong Tien, Vice Director of ATI- MOC; Mr Vuong Anh Dung- Vice Director of DAP- MOC; A/P Luu Duc Hai - former Director of NIURP (old) for their valuable encouragements to him during the period of study

Thanks and appreciations are due to the Association of Vietnam Architects, the Hanoi University of Architecture, JICA (Japan), Penang Heritage Trust (Malaysia), Goethe Institute (Hanoi); Mr Choo Meng Foo, Prof Tran Hung, Prof Nguyen Huu Dung, Ms Nguyen Minh Trang, Dr Tran Lan Anh and Dr Tran Que Ha for many kindly provided him valuable data with information

The author is especially thankful to the staff of DOA, Mr Luu Doan Huynh and Ms Nguyen Minh Huyen for logistic cooperation Special appreciation is also due to the local dwellers and authorities of the areas under study, who took great interest in and gave to give their opinions during field surveys

The author extends his heartfelt gratitude and indebtedness to his Parents and Parents-In-Law for their unfailing love and generous interest, moral inspiration, encouragement and valuable contributions The author is also grateful to his NUS, CASA friends for their support and assistance to his efforts

Last and not least, his unbounded gratitude and appreciation go to his wife Mrs Dao Thi Thu

Ha and his son Ngo Minh Quang for their sacrifices, understanding and encouragement to him prior to and during his study at NUS

c Hoi An ancient town (southern part of central Vietnam) 20

1.3.2 Application of “Affordances” in various environments 23 1.3.3 Methods of studying the “Affordances” in the urban environment 28

The development of “Affordances” of Heritage Environment (ASHE) 28

b Ground- up Profile (GUP) for conservation of the built heritages 35

2.2 The heritage environment changes and current physical settings 62

2.2.1 Past and present behavior action on street fronts, a commercial space 63

2.3.1 Hanoian’s behaviors towards significant properties of the built heritage 77 2.3.2 The effects of Rural Stimulus to indigenous culture in the built heritage 78 2.3.3 Critical discussion on behavioral changes in Hanoi heritage environment 81

2.4.1 Main factors influencing the significant properties of the Ancient Quarter 84 2.4.2 Conceptualizing the built environment’s transition 85 2.4.3 Future movement driving the Ancient Quarter’s environment 86

3.1 Users’ behavior towards significant properties of the places through social

phenomena

88

3.1.6 Architectural objects: Dwelling, religious and historic buildings 108

3.1.8 The corridor (covered & open): Shared context 112

CONTRIBUTION- USER POSSIBILITY INTERACTIONS

122

4.1.2 The physical place setting in outdoor and shared contexts 124

4.3 Examining place contribution- user group relationships 127

4.3.4 The Religionist - spiritual Precinct relationship 166

5.3.1 Corridor, courtyard, cooking places of the compound- no 66 Hang Bac 176

5.3.2 An oldest tube-house (47 Hang Bac) and its surroundings 185 5.3.3 The street-section along Hang Bac street (Building No.13-15)- (Outdoor context)

Appendix B: Field Surveys

Appendix C: Photo of The Places (in the Past & at Present)

Appendix D: Other studies and Relevant Documents

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.3 Environments of the Ancient Quarter in the study on “functional

affordance”

50

Chapter 2

Table 2.2 Statistical data of architectural constructions in the Ancient Quarter 71

Table 2.6 Indigenous community’s expectations towards housing matters in the

local wards

81

Chapter 3

Table 3.4.a Statistical data on street-trees and its existing condition 106

Chapter 4

Table 4.2 Interaction between the Front contribution and The Merchant

Table 4.4 The Front (Shop) contribution - the trader possibility Interaction 142

Table 4.6 Interaction between the public place contribution and the non resident

possibility

149

Table 4.8 The building/ its front contribution- primary Owner possibility 158

interaction Table 4.9 Relationship between the building/ its front contribution and The

secondary owner possibility interaction

163

Table 4.11 Interaction between Religious place contribution and religionist

possibility

168

Chapter 5

Table 5.3 Vertical affordance indexes from contributions of the places 180 Table 5.4 Horizontal affordance indexes from user’s possibilities in place-usage 180

Table 5.6 Suggestions on priorities in behavioral flow to shared places 184

Table 5.10 Vertical affordance indexes from contributions of the places 190 Table 5.11 Horizontal affordance indexes from user’s possibilities in place-usage 191

Table 5.13 Suggestions on priorities in behavioral flow to the building/ its front 197

Table 5.17 Interaction between Street front contribution and speculative trader

possibility

202

Table 5.18 Vertical affordance indexes from contributions of the places 203 Table 5.19 Horizontal affordance indexes from user’s possibilities in place-usage 203

Table 5.21 Suggestions on priorities in behavioral flow to street-front sections 207

Figure 2.1 Conceptualized developments of residential blocks and tube-houses 67

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Figure 4.1 The model of “place contribution- user possibility” relationship

(CPI)

125

Figure 4.4 Diagrammatic representation of affordance levels between

traditional merchant and the Front

137

Figure 4.6 Diagrammatic representation of affordance levels between the

speculative trader and the Front (shop) contribution

144

Figure 4.8 Diagrammatic representation at affordance levels between non-

resident and public places

152

Figure 4.9 Typical primary owner’s behavioral flow to the building and its

Front

155

Figure 4.10 Diagrammatic representation at affordance levels between primary

owner and building/ its fronts

160

Figure 4.11 The secondary owner’s behavioral flow to the building and its fronts 161 Figure 4.12 Diagrammatic representation at affordance levels between 165

Secondary Owner and building/ its fronts Figure 4.13 Diagrammatic representation at affordance levels between religionist

and spiritual precincts

171

Chapter 5

Figure 5.2 The physical components, elements of the residential blocks and the

Figure 5.3 Analyzing plan- layout of the corridors, courtyards and cooking

places

177

Figure 5.4 Diagrammatic representation of goals and at affordance levels in

case of non- residential

182

Figure 5.6 Diagrammatic representation of goals and affordance levels in case

of secondary owner and non- residential

Map 1.3 Location of the selected blocks and conservation grade I & II 47

ABBREVIATIONS AND GLOSSARY

Vietnamese terms

Bạch Mã, Chồng Diêm Unique name of the locations, styles and things in the Ancient

Quarter Đèn nhà ai nhà nấy rạng My house is my castle (or each one for himself)

Hữu xạ tự nhiên hương Good wine needs no bush

Phố Nghề Handicraft trades street (dwelling building- communal house-

workshop) Phố Buôn Bán Trading street (group of shop- houses)

Specific terms

Hanoi city)

Horizontal affordance: It is “affordances” that are determined within a horizontal space

In other word, these affordances are analyzed and summed- up horizontally

Non- resident A group includes state employees (retired) and other pensioners

whom migrated from outside Primary owner The person/ family members have inherited (or received)

properties/ assets from ancestors - whom built up and owned over the periods They have certain understandings on developmental history of the places/ buildings in the sites Potential Affordances: The term expresses environmental potentialities contributing

opportunities to user and user’s possibilities in responding to such potentialities in the environment It possibly involves certain kinds of affordances, which ensure a more successful community involvement in retaining architectural and urban heritage value

Perceived Affordances: It is the functional property of a feature, which offers user the

possibility for an activity Perceived affordances determine environmental quality through specific physical characteristics of

the place that are found to be functionally based on the group and individual criteria

user-Secondary owner One purchased heritage buildings/ properties for unique

commercial purpose/ business Speculative trader The people just pay attention on business and supplying urban

and tourist services

Traditional merchant Offsprings of first merchants in the guilds of the Ancient Quarter Tube-house number A noun implies ordinal number of a house (shop- house,

collective house), which shared by several families, households

or a group of similar users

Shaped Affordances: It is the property of a feature, which is being changed by the

activity of a user’s group

Speculative trader- place

contribution interaction

This expressed an interaction between speculative trade with what a place is able to contribute to This interaction presented the trader’s abilities that constitute relevant affordances in using spatial components of such place for everyday activities, both negatively and positively, towards conservation acts

Shared context It described an environment (shared facilities, shared space) used

by a group of habitants or a community

Utilized Affordances: It is the property of a feature being used by a user’s group in an

activity

Vertical affordance: It is “affordances” that are determined within a vertical space In

other word, these affordances are analyzed and summed- up vertically

Attachment

phenomenon

This phenomenon means vendor’s possibility to attach material things on building facade as uncontrolled area for operating private business This figures out the user’s attach-ability, as one

of typical affordances in Hanoi Ancient Quarter, of necessary things to such place practically

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, many rapidly modernizing cities have been demolishing their heritage resources and characters in order to promote modernization M any of them have now recognized their substantial losses as well as linkage between the past and the present

as a base for future development Certain urban areas, involving tangible and intangible values, have been considered by conducting works concerning protection and preservation for the sake of the next generations, and are called as “urban heritage environments” Therefore, retaining the values of urban heritage environments has become a matter of great urgency and a more urgent task on which focused the great efforts of local and international (ICOM OS and UNESCO) organizations Urban heritage conservation is a strong movement in today’s urban planning and

development In fact, there are two conservation approaches- (i) top- down and; (ii)

bottom- up depending on conditions and locations in each country The top -down

approach, usually seen in developed countries, involves in many cases one- directional conservation efforts based on State’s economic potentials and large investments However, it seems that so far no effort under the top -down approach has been successful due to a lack of understanding about the real relationship between physical urban heritage environments and the current users The bottom- up approach has been implemented in the conservation process in developing countries and usually relies on local resources (labor and finances) at the community level Conservators have found it necessary to this approach apply it in the preservation of larger scale areas involving

various heritage user groups In the past, the study of the physical environment, which

had attracted much interest, was designed to examine “how environment characteristics should be described and perceived through the relationship between the

environment and humans” One of the terms exposing these relationships was

“affordances” of environment, coined by Gibson (1986, 1979), focused on “what the environment offers the animals, and on what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill” It is used to study the relationship between humans and the ecological

environment Based on Gibson’s theory, affordances were applied to examine the relations between the urban environments and the urban people (Kytta, Clark &

Uzzell, 2002) in outdoor contexts In these practical studies, affordance levels (perceived, utilized and shaped), provided places that encouraged social interaction and retreat (Clark & Uzzell, 2002) and sociality (Kytta, 2002) Furthermore, the

affordance taxonomy is taken into account as graspable opportunities to build up the

categories of affordances about what particular environments support and what the

observer’s actions can be reflected beyond the environmental characteristics detected accordingly In other words, the distribution has been a framework for the researcher,

city planner and designer who use available predictability to arrange better urban

environment settings towards social and people interaction in outdoor contexts For this reason, as a conceptual integration of “affordances” into “urban heritage environment”, I have devised the term “affordances of heritage environment” (A SHE),

to examine the interplays of heritage environment and its user The result is a “ ground- up” profile (GUP) approach in conservation

1.1 General review and problems- Theoretical and Local approaches

a International level

- Heritage meanings: There are many definitions of heritage Traditionally, Heritage is

a term that came to the fore in the 1970s in Europe, and its meaning increasingly was expanded in the 1980s and came to encompass other aspects, with increasing uses for commercial purposes (Tran, 2004) Over the periods, heritage definitions were shifted

from term-to-term such as “historical monument” (Venice Charter1, 1964) or

“monument and site” (ICOM OS, 1965) to “cultural property” (UNESCO, 1968) and site-to-site as well Regarding this circulation, Ahmad (2006) sharply indicated that meanings of “heritage” have fully been homogenized from country-to-country; in other words, “no uniformity exists between countries”

Hence, Powell (NUS) suggested the built heritages provide a link between the past and the present and help us to understand the connections to our local history in urban development By maintaining the existing heritages, old buildings for instance, we are aware of our roots, the times wherein our forefathers lived and thus we can maintain a cultural image of ourselves It also provides an identity to the town The heritage also includes various craftsmanship works and materials etc, which are becoming increasingly rare So, the heritages must be conserved for the Future through multi- disciplinary approaches and in particular through stakeholders

- Heritage conservation: The central idea of heritage conservation has been applied, by

several researchers, in managing changes rather than denying them, particularly in ancient quarters and historic towns Lichfield (1988) showed that conservation means the management of the built environment and the architectural heritage It aims to restrain the rate of change in the urban system and works towards achieving a better balance between conservation and development than would otherwise prevail Then, the concept of urban conservation has been gaining in popularity in developing countries As a term, urban conservation is now increasingly used by urban managers, experts and local authorities in large precincts, while the local community and inhabitants, who seek to preserve their own heritage and property are not yet familiar with it

1

Congress of Architects and Technicians of Historic Monum ents (CATHM), the Venice Charter 1964

- Heritage Conservation principles: From a researcher’s point of view, Ahmad (1993)

found that urban conservation can be divided into three categories: (i) conservation of historic building(s); (ii) conservation of historic sites and; (iii) conservation of culture Concerning the first category, Bernard (1982) said that conservation of historic buildings means enhancing the emotional (wonder, identity, continuity, spiritual and symbolic), cultural (historic, age and scarcity, aesthetics and symbol, architectural, townscape, landscape and ecological) and use (functional, economic, social and political) values for the huge stone constructions of European countries These values and their boundaries were quite abstract and unable to be easily recognized and evaluated by the community as the main users and observers without the assistance of experts M oreover, advanced technologies and specialized knowledge are required for examining conditions of the buildings if conservation is to be successful

In regard to the conservation of historic sites, the Venice Charter (1964) emphasized restoration of significant structures and relevant settings of the site without living organisms inside However, there are many historic sites where urban communities are living in (M alacca, Penang, Taiping in M alaysia; Bhaktapur in Nepal; LiJiang- China and etc) With regard to the third category, conservation of culture involves intangible properties (Mohammed, 1990; Bunji, 1979) such as (1) cultural rehabilitation; (2) cultural restoration; (3) cultural conservation, which are commonly integrated into conservation of historic buildings and sites The urban conservation concept and its components, therefore, are a positive movement that is substantially appropriate for developed countries where in previous years conservation was fully supported by State and local resources

- The Conservation movements: Looking back at the recent centuries, Ruskin (1851-3)

suggested that there was a relationship between human creativity and the social and

cultural context with respect to the maintenance of the historic authenticity of architecture and failure to retrieve or to restore should be equated with loss Later on, the emergence of the idea of restoration of “historic monuments” was compared with the previous concepts as put forth earlier by Schinkel (Germany), Viollet le Duc (France) and Scott (United Kingdom) in the nineteenth century Thereafter, this movement was taken over by the rest and others and especially in Japan where temples were restored from the end of the century (Jokilehto, 1999) Consequently, many huge historic buildings and monuments have been successfully restored in developed countries by the State’s initiative and support In other words, this trend has heavily depended on the State’s protection and budget, which are changing over the years For this reason, the later UNESCO Charters (Washington2, 1987; M exico3, 1999; NARA4, 1994) claimed that urban conservation should be based on community involvement to ensure a better and sustainable development toward the built heritage elements Therefore, urban conservation models have recently followed two different directions, the “top- down” and “bottom- up” approach Several typical instances show the respective strengths and weaknesses of these two approaches For example, the “top -down” conservation model for the Chinatown in Singapore has increased the quality of physical environment; however, the area faces distortions in local identity due to mass functional conversion in using these shop houses (Sim, 1997) Similarly, George Town and Penang in M alaysia and Hanoi in Vietnam are ancient towns facing serious deterioration of physical environments, old buildings and infrastructural overloads due

to the State’s limited resources (N go, 2006- a & b) In contrast, the “bottom- up” approach in Hoi An ancient town of Vietnam, a World Heritage site, is a great success because the preservation process is based on a close relationship between the

indigenous communities (natives) and their built heritages (Tran, 2007) in a small area (about 50 ha5) As a result, the Hoi An model actually required very little investment and support from the State because most resources were mobilized from the households However, the households involved into particular and small scale precincts and constructions with their financial self- supports Thus, there is little possibility to apply this model to larger ancient towns with built heritages being utilized by different native and non- native communities

On the other hand, cultural mapping determined by UNESCO was used as a tool to collect data from community engagement, which identifies and records cultural resources and elements (tangible: galleries, craft industries, distinctive landmarks, local events; intangible: memories, personal histories, attitudes and values) The mapping focuses more on people’s awareness (insider/ outsider) towards profound values of known assets On the contrary, affordance concept expresses interplay relationship between the user and defined/undefined properties through functions recognized of the specific environment In protected environment of Hanoi Ancient Quarter for instance, there are hidden functional values of the place that the local user (insider) might be recognizable rather than outsider Therefore, cultural mapping is hardly applicable because this tool did not encourage community’s possibility in shaping their place by themselves

b Professional level

The Venice Charter (1964) focused on current conservation concepts and attempted to correct recurrent mistakes in restoration practice Its main message was the development of a critical approach to conservation and restoration of historic monuments and relevant settings In practice, the charter has been interpreted in

5

Internet: http://vietbao.vn//Van-hoa/Pho-co-Hoi-An-ko-co-tieng-xe-m ay /20218994/181/

different ways with different stresses on maintenance and care of existing original structures with priority given to the conservation of original material Based on the charter, scientific tools for survey and analysis of historic structures and materials were strongly developed As a result, industrial production from scientific researches did not totally replace traditional crafts and materials, causing serious incompatibility (Jokilehto, 1999) and impacting the heritage authenticity In addition, the Burra Charter6 (1979/ 1999) used the term “place” of cultural significance to indicate

“cultural heritage”, where traditional values and non- physical aspects were given more importance than physical monuments The guidelines concerning the place and its settings stated that physical changes and interventions should not influence their cultural significance The Charter was applied to places where physical environments and objects were well- preserved and in good conditions Therefore, the charter was not applicable to places, where material environments and structures had been seriously decayed and had been restored urgently in developing countries In my opinion, a new term and relevant guidelines should be worked out for the conservation

of the material environments, settings and fabric of “places” in cities of developing

countries, for instance, Hanoi Ancient Quarter The Nara Document (1994) on

authenticity expanded the Venice Charter and gave major attention to cultural diversity and cultural specificity It was an indicator of the general trend toward broadening the concept of heritage resources Each place has a different authenticity and relevant communities have perhaps different notions of the values of the heritages and may express their conception in a different way I suppose that various communities are actually not familiar with the terminology of “authenticity” It is necessary to carry out

a “conceptual conversion”, moving from the international level to national level and

6

ICOMOS Australia, the Burra Charter 1979, revised 1999

local level So far, no study has been made on the conversion with respect to conservation plans and programs designed to encourage community involvement

The Washington Charter (1987) dealt with the preservation of “historic towns and urban areas” It laid down the principles and technological methods in conservation planning to ensure sustainable development, continuity and the historic character of the towns and urban areas To this end, community involvement plays a very important role through concrete programs related to the preservation process In my opinion, the Charter provides a good basis for those who work out plans for the preservation of towns and urban areas Due to the absence of technical guidance on how to do conservation planning and the necessary steps to be taken, conservation work with respect to multicultural towns and urban areas in developing countries has not been effective Hanoi Ancient Quarter is a typical case in point

The M exico Charter (1999) focused on “the built vernacular heritage”, which consisted

of tangible and intangible properties and associations shared by the community In this connection, community involvement, support and rights were emphasized in order to maintain the community’s living traditions In practice, the guidelines had suggested fundamental methods on conserving the built heritage, the vernacular buildings, groups

of buildings or single structures and so on But the Charter’s guidance on conservation

of both material and immaterial heritages of the community was formulated conceptually in abstract and general terms (adaptation, replacement and restoration etc) Indeed, it was just a weak message to both the community and local authorities on conservation work as it did not lay any technical framework, which helps them to define and protect the values inherent in such heritages No technical framework or profile guidance has been formulated to enable the community to define by itself the

built vernacular heritage elements and to work out an appropriate behavior for the settings and associations

In accordance with the Charters, many research papers, frameworks, and guidelines have been developed Vines (2005) put forth the 4 step guidance on assessing and preserving the authenticity of the place beyond the general principles on revitalizing heritage management and upgrading the historic districts and retaining the traditional sense of place The principles were outlined following research on various cases in Southeast Asian towns For instance, the “model conservation project” methods resulted from the study of a building at no 8, Heeren Street of M alacca Town (M alaysia) M oreover, it was proposed that the signs on buildings should follow the designs of the signs along street-facades in Penang, Singapore and Vietnam etc In my opinion, the principles and guidelines recommended were useful to the sites, where individuals owned vernacular heritage buildings as inherited properties Besides, the history of the heritage concerned has been recorded and updated, to ensure the owner’s awareness and to cause him/her to use the building and its space in an appropriate manner These principles may not be applicable to dissimilar cases and situations in different institutional systems Certainly, no further research has been conducted on applying the general notions, guidelines and principles to community’s commitment on preserving single “multi-ownership” heritage buildings

Furthermore, Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage Sites (ICOM OS, 2008) figured out seven principles, to foster public awareness on protection and conservation of cultural heritage sites through scientific and scholarly methods The charter covers a wide scope being applied for all objects (public, associated community and stakeholder) It also developed general technical and professional guidelines in

their social context To the scope, role of community was not stressed in developing protection, preservation of the heritage properties by themselves

On the other hand, Convention for safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO focused on 5 aspects: (i) oral traditions and expressions; (ii) performing arts; (iii) social practices, rituals and festive events; (iv) knowledge and practices; (v) traditional craftsmanship The convention emphasized on how to preserve those intangible heritage’s kinds rather than attaching them into intangible properties (such

as relic, environment, old buildings and etc) However, there is no article indicating relationships among intangible activities of user (communities, public) with physical/functional places This gap may not support community’s role in increasing value of the cultural heritage eventually

In addition, the Hoi An Protocols (2001) has divided into five categories of heritage resources The relevant ones to the research are historic urban sites and heritage groups; and monuments, buildings and structures Those contents have warned people about threats (new development, urbanization, heritage deterioration and etc) and presented tools to conservation of authenticity (both tangible and intangible) Nevertheless, two categories did not point out to the community (main user of the heritages) about how to engage preservation works through a ground-up approach

In Vietnam, the law on cultural heritage included 74 articles within 7 chapters and promulgated in 2002 There is several articles relative to conserve both tangible and intangible cultural heritage For instance, the article 7 affirmed the heritages found are under population’s ownership Furthermore, articles 15 and 16 stipulated responsibility

of the whole people in managing, protecting and preserving cultural heritages In the following chapters of intangible and tangible cultural heritages, articles 17, 24 encouraged all people conducting activities of studying, collecting, preserving and

introducing cultural heritages to nationalities’ community In particular, article 32 defined two conservational zones I and II toward relic’s original settings and areas surrounding the relics with such sanctions Due to the law’s scope, these articles were positive stipulations covering all areas to enhance protection of cultural heritages Therefore, to apply those and the law, some particular circulars and guidelines are required to assist community in firstly recognizing valuable properties of the cultural heritages to possible behaviors

c Case- studies in developed and developing countries

During various periods, many cities in both developed and developing countries have applied the urban conservation approaches to particular precincts and areas for the protection and preservation of their respective identities As a top -down model, Singapore is one of the examples of a country engaged in development while continuing to conserve the historic and cultural heritage (with particular characteristics) of a culturally-rich multiracial city-state, where live in common three Chinese, M alayan and Indian communities In accordance with its conservation policy,

it has apparently succeeded in preserving the urban fabric through Government financial support in rebuilding, for example, the shop - houses, which reflected “past modernity” (Widodo, 2003) in its Chinatown Sim (1997) reported that functional transformation and shift from residential use to commercial use involving more office space has caused the new Chinatown to lose its vibrant character Thus, Singapore has succeeded in retaining the use value for economic, functional, tourist and political development but has achieved much less in the conservation of emotional and cultural values Due to the failure to retain the residential role and the shop -house functions, these heritage environments and areas of Singapore involve a sense of unsustainable conservation

As different from the shop -house rows in Singapore, the values of mixed shop- houses (Hokkian Chinese & British colonial architecture) have been neglected in conservation areas of George Town in Penang, M alaysia Some researchers have showed that a large number of shop- houses have been demolished to build the huge Komtar Tower shopping complex (65 storeys) on Jalan Penang after repeal of Rent Control Act In making these changes, the authorities have failed to preserve and protect current vernacular architecture Fels (1994) has reported that local leaders sometime talked about conservation and heritage but renovation projects only covered old public buildings and very few models of shop -houses M oreover, according to Alex (2006),

an area structure plan, conservation guidelines and a completed inventory of heritage buildings had been established for the inner city Due to Government limitations in financial, political power and in policies, urban conservation in various areas has been carried out on a discriminatory basis: in favor of certain elite groups As a matter of fact, Chinese and Indian structures are always dominant while only a small number of

M alay structures could survive Ngo (2006- a) suggested that because of State’s neglect, the M alay structures and their culture sooner or later may face the danger of destruction As a result of the top -down model, the conservation of George Town’s cultural variety and identity cannot be sustained due to the disappearance of minority groups, specifically the M alay one In contrast, the successful preservation of the Han Jiang Ancestral Temple in Penang, which won the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Conservation prize in 2006, highlights the intervention of individuals and organizations from the private sector, particularly the Teochew Association, one of the strongest business groups in Penang As the most important spiritual symbol of migrants over time and in history, the “community -based conservation” model has been used by the Association members in building the conservation fund which relied

on an “absolute trust system” of contribution (Lim, 2006) M oreover, the key persons

in the private sector, who were supposed to be the initiators of the project, are the offsprings of Teochew migrants, and the temple was, therefore, the embodiment of their collective memory, historic traces and cultural customs, as also their pride about their grandfathers This was a good conservation model resulting from an ethnic group’s dedication to a spiritual construction However, this was a small scale project initiated by those who understood the values of the temple for the association over a long the period of history Therefore, it was not applicable to large projects owned by different human groups and classes, who lacked a common understanding about the buildings in need of conservation

Unlike previous Asian cases, urban heritage conservation in Canada enjoyed substantial interest and support from the Government as demonstrated by the preservation of the physical environment and unique character of Winnipeg, a historic district A budget of CAD 500,000 was provided to the project by Heritage Canada (Prusina, 1995) for physical rehabilitation of the heritage building and its surroundings

In Winnipeg, the local authority played an important role as mediator (Henri, 1986) and it set up a regulatory framework that manages the downtown zoning by means of laws and the new construction development to protect the structures of the heritage areas by means of design review Besides, Bugailiskis (1993) reported that the

“heritage support policy and program” was applying particular principles to maximize the social, cultural and economic benefits of Winnipeg’s urban heritage The conservation policies required a strictly synchronous institution-system (law, management and manager) while the heritage users had positive awareness of and behavior towards the heritage environments, as different from what happened in developing countries where such issues were commonly problematic

Conservation of wooden heritage environment in Japan is seen as another typical case

in the modern movement The “group of traditional buildings” model has been described by Bunji (1979) as a popular trend which pays great attention to the architectural characteristics of their own community He also showed that this was a new conservation trend which enjoyed Japanese Government’s support and consisted

in moving many saved historic buildings to M eiji Village, a kind of museum near Nagoya - for collecting and retaining the last M eiji buildings for exhibition and for tourist development In fact, this concept apparently ran counter to the local people’s thinking which preferred new things and neglected old things This model was appropriate for groups of buildings that were similar in terms of architecture and materials and required large government financial support, sometimes over 90% of total expenses, for preserving physical heritage environments that have no intangible values for the community

In accordance with the bottom- up approach, protecting heritage buildings requires a willingness to learn from the past and from traditions, and to develop and implement a systematic research, which links innovation with traditions Filippi (2005) shows that a top-down intervention in restoration and preservation of vernacular architecture is too expensive Urban experts have recognized community engagement is necessary to

work out appropriate solutions for cultural heritages, a non-renewable resource, and to

avoid waste in resources due to “non-asked performances” and poor execution of conservation projects The problem was that there were always budget constraints, while a large investment was required In practice, participation usually relied on an over 2- year- process7 with “empowerment” of a community which must identify its

7

A face-to-face interview (2007) with the dwellers at No 51 Hang Bac- a tube-house is preserved by project Hanoi2010, during the field work Nguy en M T (2008) also h ighlighted m ore than one y ear for local authority - household discussion, 4 m onths for tem porary fam ily- relocation and, other 8 m onths for the reproducible restoration The m ost difficult stage was reached a agreement due to each fam ily ’s benefit from the proj ect The relocation stage was raised issues because the insider was self-

problems and decide how to deal with them as demonstrated by the case of House 51, Hang Bac Street, Ha Noi Ancient Quarter where the community knew the area and its problems better than anyone else Therefore, providing inputs, while helping the local community to decide how to implement a repair project would develop a sense of

“ownership and control”, would increase the working effectiveness and achieve better

results Theoretically, community involvement has three positive effects Firstly, it is possible to know in advance the beneficiaries and to get good results Secondly, easier acceptance of the project results by the beneficiaries Thirdly, project costs are

reduced In practice, people would be willing to be involved in the conservation work when they realize it is “an economic asset”8 and a source of income; therefore, sharing the profits of conservation is necessary Drawing the interest of the community for the project also requires incentives such as prizes for returning surveys, community environmental awards etc For instance, Heritage awards in Hong Kong9 gave recognition of and encouragement to community for their remarkable achievement in heritage conservation or heritage education Besides, the State must play a major role

in (1) strengthening the concept about “commercialization of built heritages” without undermining their traditional values; (2) sharing tax revenues and revenues from tourism and social services for the purpose of conservation; (3) seeking interest-groups initiatives; (4) solving subsidization issues for the maintenance and conservation of privately owned houses of historical value Critically, this program requires a comprehensive action plan covering different themes (cultural, population densities and social infrastructure, sense of place), which not all government agencies and communities could perform The plan should be associated with a synchronous

institution such as: (1) council activity; (2) statutory planning; (3) community nature conservation; (4) codes of practices and; (5) regulatory control10

1.2 Vietnam and local conservation movements

In Vietnam, the “conservation” concept is adapted from the USSR in the l980s In recent years, the country has experimented the bottom-up approach, with community role and clan efforts in repairing and replacing damaged symbolic wooden architectural structures in the communal houses (in Duong Lam, Bac Ninh Province),

in the pagodas and temples etc At the beginning, traditional conservation in Vietnam was characterized by “patchy repairs” (Ngo, 2006-c), using folk- traditional construction methods and experience inherited from previous generations of carpenters and heritage owners Some researchers have reported that one of the most important

things in construction and repairs of ancient houses was “thước tầm”11, a bamboo ruler

based on the house owner’s finger or hand-span Without this measurement tool, no one could (re)produce wooden components for erecting housing structure or replacement and attachment Tran (2007) says that is was not possible for a large number of such typical buildings to preserve the ruler due to various wars, especially

in the case of Bac Ninh province Because of this loss in traditional community skills, the users could not restore and repair the houses in the way the ancestors had done, thus causing serious degradation of the structures Consequently the users had to, on their own, maintain and repair the buildings, with concomitant poor treatment of the physical heritage concerned In recent years, international organizations (such as JICA, SIDA, Belgium and France) and institutions (Waseda, Tokyo and Toulouse Universities) introduced new and modern behavioral techniques to the local experts

and authorities to maintain and upgrade national heritages and ancient towns in Hanoi City, in Ha Tay and Bac Ninh provinces (Northern Vietnam), in Hue City (Central Vietnam) and in Hoi An town (Southern part of Central Vietnam) Since most of the adopted conservation techniques came from the West, they were somehow not suited

to the current situation and local culture, the user and the urban manager The built heritages in Vietnam commonly were small scale- buildings with feature of “tropical- indigenous” styles These buildings were constructed with vernacular materials and methods Comparatively speaking, there are many technical methods for successfully conserving huge stone structure in European countries but these are not applicable to Vietnam’s built heritages (that were made by wooden structure) For example, reproducible methods relating to the restoration of monuments were employed for preserving three tube- houses in almost 20 years (1986- 2005) in Hanoi Ancient Quarter (Nguyen V.C, 2006) and this involved many proposals that are presented in the next sections The relevant conservation plans and agenda could elicit little support from the local population and were less than successful Further, restoration and conservation stopped as is the case of the museums: communal house at no 38 Hang Dao; tube-house at no 87 M a M ay as soon as international support and assistance came to an end

So far, Vietnam lacks theoretical concepts and practical experience on preserving an entire area and particular groups of objects therein Tran (2004) stated that the main approach heavily relies on urban planning and urban design, which was critical to urban conservation as laid down in the Cultural Heritage Law While most ancient towns require good planning and designs for their development, the current plans (Gia Hội- Chợ Dinh ancient town project in Hue City, plan- scale 1:500, 1:200, which are associated with relevant regulations) fail to deal with the real problems of the towns

concerned And the key plans, which deal with distribution of conservation benefits, have no specific action plans (AusAID and JICA) and sanctions As a result, there are

no successful projects on the conservation of ancient cities and quarters, except for Hoi

An ancient town The current planning projects do not involve conservation and urban management per se but only preservation of significant values of the heritage environments The plans did not take into account the role of the user (individual, community) and did not provide the technical tools for carrying out the projects, and as

a result urban conservation work could not be executed in different sites in three regions

a Ha Tay and Bac Ninh provinces (northern Vietnam)

These areas have a big number (3-5-7-9 bays) of wooden structures located in

traditionally structured villages such as Đường Lâm (Ha Tay) and Đình Bảng (Bac

Ninh) Several housing compounds have been labeled as “National heritage” A gain, Tran (2007) showed that the crucial conservation method involved replacing rotten components and pieces with reproducible materials to strengthen the sustainability of the construction, and the project involved modern techniques, full sponsorship of

Japanese NGOs in terms of funding (USD 100.000 or VND 1,6 billion/ a building in a

“five-month plan”) and experts The project was carried out step by step in accordance

with the standard methodology involving field survey, interview and sketch, measurement and careful experimental installation of a scientific laboratory; and finally practical work was carried out in the selected buildings Unfortunately, there was no evaluation process when the project had been completed and handed over to the Vietnamese side The project was a complete process designed to sustain the physical heritage with the help of conservative science and technology However, the entire process did not involve at any stage the participation of heritage owners and did

not have any work component that might be carried out by the dweller himself or herself A critical point is that the user and his/her offsprings were not given training with respect to knowledge and experiences about the maintenance/repair techniques and materials so that the future generations could take intensive and appropriate care of the building

On the other hand, the collective trace and memory of housing development through history had disappeared and were distorted by the additional supplements, which made the house look like a perfect museum of architectural style instead of a reflection of the

“Self” that considered as the identity of the actual owner Thus, the structural building was completely restored but it did not have the soul and spirit as desired by the community Sustainable preservation is bound to suffer in the future, as the users, instead of healthy “self-reliance”, would continue to expect assistance from the State and sponsors In the case of huge building compounds and complex buildings with more owners, maintenance and repairs would require large investments, which the Government could rarely afford and therefore, must depend on outside support for

sustainability and continuity

b Hue city (central Vietnam)

Hue, the old Royal Capital, contains many historical vestiges and cultural heritages Local Chinese and Vietnamese groups have stressed the importance of protecting this ancient town, and specifically the historic and religious relics along Chi Lang road in Gia Hoi and Cho Dinh areas Over the past few years, the State had initiated programs designed to preserve the tangible and intangible values of these heritages by means of urban conservation plans with conservation grade I and II Due to limited resources of the Government, these projects have a limited capacity in construction development and improvement of the conditions of single buildings and vernacular architecture

Yet, the State started taking care of Chinese temples, which were considered as religious buildings with spiritual symbols for local community The project members who reside both in Hue and abroad have provided funds to carry out annual repairs and

restoration Ngo (2002) reports that the donated amount (USD 1 to USD 500 per

member or family per year; author’s field surveys, 2002-7) was transmitted to the

temples’ guardians in order to renovate certain sections of the physical buildings Two

temples of the Triều Châu (Teo chew) and Phúc Kiến (Fukien) communities had been

remodeled with good results These were indeed two effective “self- help” small-scale and single projects, which followed the bottom-up approach in a heritage site

Conservation of several buildings owned by Vietnamese could not start as yet due to lack of necessary public and private interest and funds The rest of the buildings are in poor conditions and in need of urgent restoration In my view, the State has limitations and their plans do not give first priority to conservation, the local inhabitants and their grassroots’ organization should give up reliance on State support and should shift to self-reliance as an alternative for conserving the built heritage The “self- conservation” model of well- organized associations and clans with respect to their temples and spiritual symbols was a positive behavior towards small projects with clear property right and responsibility Conversely, applying this model to areas, where non- original community members are living in and where buildings are characterized

by different ownerships, may cause social conflicts

c Hoi An ancient town (southern part of central Vietnam)

Hoi An has experienced steady economic growth from tourism, which is developed beyond the well-preserved houses of merchants from different periods The present inhabitants of Hoi An come from ancestors who had settled long ago in this ancient town, and as a community, they are quite aware of their unique heritage As such, the

community is quite self-motivated and the local authorities have established a committee for dealing with conservation matters The community has been eager to commercialize local heritages, but it lacks the necessary knowledge and skills to ensure that the heritage would be safeguarded and preserved well

One of the most important points has been the heritage owners’ awareness, perceived images and collective memory of the places, which were passed down from previous generations Taking into account the value of the heritage and the benefits of tourism, most ancient buildings listed in the inventory have been protected by the policies on benefit-sharing and funding support The Provincial authorities provided a budget worth about USD 2 million (VND 30 billion) for funding half of the repairs cost of 73 houses during 2003-0412, whilst the repairs and improvement of the remaining houses was paid for by members of the local community A part of the revenues collected from visitor entry fees to the heritage area was distributed to the residents to help them repair their houses Vines (2005) reported the remaining part of the above revenues was used to hire appointed conservators and architects, who provided free architectural service to residents in repairing the community’s historic properties But “selling ancient houses” had occurred since 200413 due to huge expenditures entailed by repairs and restoration, which certain heritage owners could not afford The key to Hoi An’s success lies in the responsibilities stipulated for the users, owners and local communities associated with “groups of buildings” 14 in the town

Like in Hue city, Chinese temples and club-houses in Hoi An have been well- preserved by contributions from clan members For Hoi An’s urban residents, each person usually belongs to a particular street corner of the town, and has a strong

attachment for the place and is most reluctant to leave However, rapid growth also exerts a negative influence on the heritages In some cases, the merchants have misunderstood values of building façades that are fully covered by tourist goods This consequence changed the face of the Ancient town and locality - identity15 Thus, the participation of the local community in restoring the heritage could only be effective, when they have a proper perception about the building-value and the significance of the built environments In fact, the economic beneficiaries were transgressing the original authenticity and beauty of Hoi An’s vernacular architecture It is not possible

to apply this model to larger ancient towns, which involve relations between various communities (natives and non- natives) and the built heritages

1.3 Affordance theory

1.3.1 The original concept

“Affordances” in the ecological environment, a term coined by Gibson (1986/ 1979), stressed the reciprocal relations between two essential parts of the world environment and humans/animals The environment provides human beings with conditions and opportunities to ensure their existence Besides, human beings make multiple and diversified use of the environment and are even engaged in certain activities, which transcend the environment (Gibson & Pick, 2000) Human efforts designed to gain particular perceptions or knowledge led them to the establishment of various civilizations, cultures and societies which were functionally based on detected significant properties of the environment Then, social rules and locomotion gradually emerged, with affordances being shaped and utilized and also restrained by cultural notions as far as human actions were concerned In other words, environmental affordances support social activities

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Internet: http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam /Xa-hoi/2004/08/3B9D509F/?q=1, (accessed at 6:20am on Aug 4, 2007)

Also, affordances involve relations between an object, an agent, an individual, the social history of the agent and other objects perceived in the same class (Fitzgerald & Goldstein, 1999) Similarly, this term implies that any environment contributes to interaction (Greeno, 1994) among observers, users and their ecological environment Also, affordances claim perception and perceived information (linking collective

memory of society-group-family with the character of environmental change) which

become the basic ground for later behavior in using concrete space and environmental elements (object, surface layout, substance) There are two crucial factors related to affordance(s) Firstly, perception was recognized as an essential cognitive function that provides knowledge on most basic aspects of the environment; a perceptual process which starts from the cultural base, the human psychology itself and the social situation Secondly, there is environmental information, which people can obtain from the landscape, livable place and plane surface at a certain time and in a certain space to enable us to develop an individual attitude toward the surrounding environment

People’s cognition of environmental features, is very important because it may influence their perceptions, misperceptions and attitude towards the environments In fact, different places give different chances to receivers at different levels of functional significance, and this was termed as affordances of places (M atthews, 1992) In short, affordances are properties of the environment as they are related to animals and humans and the capability to use the perceived environment However, affordances are also offered by events, including social events such as looming, loving or angry looking To perceive an affordance is to detect an environmental property that provides the opportunity for action and that is specified in an ambient array of energy available

to the perceiver (Gibson & Pick, 2000)

1.3.2 Application of “Affordances” in various environments

Based on the “affordances” theory, Turner (2005) showed affordances in the living environment, which were defined as basic and complex affordances The simple level was similar to Gibson’s original formulation of ecology; while complex affordances covered two more factors: history and practice The simple one afforded interaction of

all kinds Its properties were specified as stimulus information A person could learn to

detect this information because of the appropriate attributes and senses The concept of affordances had its origins in the fact that one can perceive the functions of a thing as quickly as its color or shape The problem is that the simple one did not figure out the difference between physical affordances and social affordances provided by other people It was vague about whether a human being regarded other humans as objects which occupied their own affordances or whether he regarded humans as mediators in the perceptual process The affordances available in an environment would alter with the presence or absence of other people In contrast, Norman (1988) defined complex affordances as letting people know what actions could be carried out for an object and how to do them It means that the affordances may involve activities that correspond to

“an invitation” to detect objects, elements which existed in the environment, and which were familiar with substance, surface layout, and were called as “familiarity” based on

“ideal phenomenon” (Turner, 2005) The phenomenon was conditional on cultural, historic and educational core of observers that perceived available potentiality of the surrounding environment However, specific environments that maintained civilization and outstanding values did not permit the user to create very new functions, which destroy whatever affordances that were agglomerated and were available through past centuries So, solutions of adaptive re-use, restoration and revitalization were normally

applied in order to provide the user more betterments and to sustain available affordances from the heritages

In industrial design environment, Krampen (1989) suggested that affordances of physical product supported user’s action without requiring their memory, inference, and further interpretation The affordances expressed the purpose designed and action required in the user-product interaction By interacting with the products, the user could activate a sequence of possible actions to achieve their goals eventually This was true for old productions that the designer had intended to make, but it would not

be appropriate for new products with new symbolized details as detached or attached objects On the one hand, people may or may not perceive correctly the meaning of symbols without familiarity and this sometimes caused the misuse of buttons on a new radio This seemed correct with respect to heritage environment For example, the inhabitants of Hanoi Ancient Quarter knew the general history of the area and the old constructions but did not have a precise knowledge about them and even misunderstood the functions of those elements because not all of them were natives Due to economic development pressure, the dwellers tried to detect the usable spaces and thought about what they could do to exploit their settings Then, performatory action was taken, which caused encroachments on the place at a certain time

Similarly, affordances from architectural objects are the interplay with particular physical environment and social affordances It comes up with how concrete things, substances and objects support their users through a linguistic approach and

“ecological semiotics” There were natural and man-made surface layouts, presenting some basic positive or negative affordances that people could recognize due to visible characters and architectures of places etc Natural terrain planes either facilitate or prevent human motions Paradoxically, while people’s efforts to change natural

environment by constructing node, path and edge in order to provide more affordances, these also limit the accessibility to natural environments as well as prevent human contacts with the surroundings in general

M ore specifically, every space offered different affordances by the different uses of enclosed surfaces to create more privacy for the places, to hide our body in such a way that observers might not see it The hiding places of cities are decreasing social contact, people to people contact, and are increasing social class gaps, rich-poor gaps, and differences in quality of life This has led to the destruction of the normal individual capacity to support other people Due to changes in environment (season, weather and etc), human beings must make shelters or artificial shelters which provide protection to human life amid the changes

In addition, an object (portable size and weight) can be used for throwing or containing

no matter whether it was hollow or otherwise It could be: (1) an elongated object; (2)

a sharp-edged object; (3) an elongated elastic object; (4) an object that can be used for throwing and (5) an object that can make traces In this, functionally used objects with surfaces that record historic life-trace sometimes do not provide physical value to all people due to different backgrounds However, these objects are supporting the spiritual and cultural life of particular groups because many of these objects are associated with the past and the creativity of the ancestors in their experiments with the environment The support from both objects and their hidden value creates a variety of meanings For example, the visible surfaces are like the pictures, which afford visual information as the “second hand” of the original picture But, in this case not all people could recognize its meaning, beauty, genius and status etc

In parallel with material spaces and objects is the cultural environment where people have transformed social characteristics to physical environment in many ways One of

those is probably in the form of rituals, which could help people retain both their beliefs and a peaceful mind in their daily life This was called “ritualized” affordances (Krampen, 1989), which had joined basic ones to provide different levels of ritualized behaviors It created forms of social life that went from a group to a family, to family clans and nations Cultural and religious representation had influenced the meanings of buildings and objects by means of historic concepts and philosophies Therefore, the constructions and man-made objects make it possible to create places and enclosed spaces with specific characteristics as simple extensions of people’s demand In comparison, most rituals-related activities are strictly controlled, some religious festivals are allowed by the State, while many others are prohibited and regarded as

superstitions For instance, in Vietnam, Lên Đồng (going into trance) is considered as

an illegal ritual Certainly, not all ritualized events or affordances of ritualization are negative but it is necessary to assess their existence in an appropriate manner in order

to explain people’s behavior It is also necessary to take concrete cases of heritage environment that support positive aspects, rather than negative ones, in order to ensure objectiveness in conserving and repairing the buildings and living space

Every ritual usually requires a specific spatial form, depending on the religion itself and the members of the group at a point of time In designed buildings, various user groups have various functional properties and different tasks Clearly, the name or nature of these platforms, social forms influenced different surface layouts For instance, different buildings would express correlative affordances Unfortunately, various studies had not suggested what are the best construction-typology created by social culture, local customs and factual desire of maintaining life in special spaces (front-shop, spatial structure and meaning of place or tube-house) With historic and daily life’s ritualization, individual experience and skills, the buildings or objects were

constructed with their full meanings and social affordances Furthermore, this seems to indicate only horizontal relation in such buildings To cultural heritage environments, affordances probably include vertical spatial relations to create a complete space, structure for the inhabitants during the development process

1.3.3 M ethods of studying the “Affordances” in the urban environment

Based on the “affordances” notion, Clark & Uzzell (2002) practiced affordances to examine the relationship between urban environments (the home, neighborhood, school and town centre) and the 11 to l6 year old adolescents The method employed was the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), which focused on comparison of environmental conditions between two countries to assess important affordances Later

on, Kytta (2002) used affordance levels (perceived, utilized and shaped) to examine interactions between functional properties of outdoor places in cities and the 8 to 9 years old children The approach, which involves semi-structured interviews, SPSS with comparative ANOVA technique, t-test and mappings helped the researcher to identify different distributions of affordances in different communities and locations Both Clark & Uzzell and Kytta studies, in general, were unable to point out affordances within environments according to various aged town- people Later, the meanings of buildings and semiotics in architecture had been spelled out through linguistic and “ecological semiotics” methods and ecological concepts, thus sketching ecological semiotics with specific surfaces, surface layouts of buildings and artifacts The final result elucidated differences between meanings of buildings and designed products on a human scale

1.4 Further developments

 The development of “Affordances” of Heritage Environment (ASHE)

In general, theses studies on the affordances showed that affordance levels were an effective framework, theoretical and p ractical, to evaluate the environmental quality and the user’s behavior in response to the quality perceived in urban environmental planning and design Although some studies have been done on the application of affordances and its levels to the urban environments, very little information is available

on applying affordances and its levels to heritage environments and their users An integration of “affordances” into “urban heritage environment”; in other words,

“affordances of heritage environment” (ASHE) is necessary and employed to examine

the environment- user relationships towards producing a “bottom- up” approach in conservation

Kytta (2002) proposed that there are various levels of affordances (perceived, utilized and shaped) Further, these affordances are perceived, used and shaped relatively through social activities within those environments Perceived affordance was what the actor perceived and determined how an object could possibly be used It developed a combination of what one saw and what on e knew by using observer’s knowledge beyond the information obtained from the environment

Additionally, potential affordance of environmental features was what supported an activity (Clark & Uzzel, 2002) and was infinite (Kytta, 2003) as we might be able to identify limitless possibilities for doing things In a conserved environment, it could be limited, contrary to Kytta’s statement, due to social, construction, preservation and other rules, which control and actually reduce this affordance in concrete settings

The significance of the heritage environments provides opportunities for human activities which, in a more or less physical manner, support preservative performance Sometimes, the users have not recognized these potentials and the kind of affordances proposed by Kytta through their behavior and social activities