Ambiance as an instrument to link the tangible-intangible aspects of heritage

Susana Alves

Keywords: tangible-intangible aspects; historic urban landscapes; ambiances; heritage

I explore how the notion of ambiances can help integrate the tangible-intangible divide in heritage urban landscapes (HUL). Ambiances are both subjective and objective and thus involve people’s lived experience as well as their physical environment (Thibaud, 2011). The concept of ambiances occupies the space between subject and object (Bohme, 1993). Given its dual nature, ambiances can link disparate dimensions in heritage literature: past-present-and future events; individual and social memory, and instrumental and symbolic meanings (Alves, 2015).