Culture and heritage - Built environment indicator

Heritage items, sites and areas reveal the embedded history and story of a particular place and reflect the intensity of activity in that place at a given time. Heritage within urban areas consists of both discrete buildings and large elements but also in the presence of older materials used for roads, footpaths, plantings etc, urban form and other character-defining elements, which creates inherent value for the local and broader community, reinforcing the need for conservation to preserve cultural identity.

This indicator will support practitioners to understand the cultural and heritage value of a particular area, which often indicates a richness of built-character layers over time. Based on the outcome of the assessment, practitioners can determine the density of heritage and culturally significant sites/areas within it and therefore the complex history of that setting.

Practitioners engaging with Country and traditional custodians should review the GANSW Connecting with Country Draft Framework 2020 and apply the Guiding Principles of the NSW Movement and Place Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Engagement Framework “Collaborating when engaging with Country” to their indigenous cultural place analysis.

Practitioners can use the percentage of heritage area metric to measure the proportion of cultural and heritage sites/areas within an area.

Practitioners can use the density of cultural amenities metric to measure the density of discrete cultural amenities such as museums, libraries, and art galleries within an area.