Au-delà des murs: Bridging the Edge between the Living City and the Preserved City

Abstract

This thesis investigates how the bureaucracies of heritage designation such as UNESCO create havens for tourists rather than encourage the continuous inhabitation of historic cities. With the mission of preserving culture, these bureaucracies concentrate their efforts on the tangible aspects which are necessary to the culture’s persistence, yet without their continual and active use, preserved landmarks become obsolete. As resident populations migrate out of preserved cities due to lack of agency and increased touristic value, the intangible aspects of culture are lost to the memorialisation of object heritage. With a focus on the World Heritage Site of Vieux-Québec, this thesis challenges the existing process for reprogramming architectural landmarks by posing the question : How can new forms of architectural intervention allow obsolete landmarks to once again participate in our living cities?