Tracing Erasure: Fostering Care and Engagement in Heritage Conservation

Abstract

Current heritage conservation practices tend to privilege material preservation, often at the expense of intangible, everyday, and erased histories, particularly those of marginalized communities. This thesis reframes conservation through an ethic of care, shifting from a mindset of “protecting from” to one of “caring about.” Guided by core themes of openness, curiosity, and choice, the project positions architecture as a tool to foster engagement, care, and shared authorship of place. Using Halifax as a testing ground, a series of fragmentary, interactive installations are proposed at sites marked by erasure. These architectural interventions function as social prompts, inviting participation, intergenerational dialogue, and storytelling. In this effort of heritage-making, walking is used as both method and metaphor: a slow, attentive practice of experiencing and reflecting. Ultimately, the work proposes a conservation approach that is not static or top-down, but participatory, inclusive, and responsive to the plurality and emergent nature of collective history.