BUFFERING EXTERNAL THREATS TO HERITAGE CONSERVATION AREAS - A PLANNERS PERSPECTIVE

This paper centres on the fundamental issue of environmental conservat ion from a planning perspective. For many years planners have been cri ticised for not integrating conservation with the need for development with one usually occurring in isolation to the other. Thus, this pape r reviews environmental planning to disclose a gap that may exist in c urrent practice in relation to protection of cultural heritage places from threats generated within their surrounds. As conservation of the built and natural environment confronts in practice common problems, i t is suggested that a technique applied in natural heritage protection to 'buffer' national parks from external threats occurring outside th e legal bounds of protected places can be adapted to the urban environ ment in the protection of cultural heritage, This technique is the buf fer zone planning (BZP) technique developed by Kozlowski and Ptaszycka -Jackowska. From the limited application that has been undertaken of t he technique as applied to heritage conservation and which is summaris ed here, it is evident that the technique shows certain strengths sugg esting that with further development BZP may become an important plann ing tool in conserving built heritage. This paper therefore presents t he findings of this application in the hope that it will generate cons tructive discussions in relation to the technique in an urban applicat ion. (C) Elsevier Science B.V.