Documentation and monitoring of intangible cultural heritage a 21st century approach

Domains in which intangible and tangible cultural heritage are manifested are explored and a rational practical place-based descriptive model is devised - drawing on desk research and field studies. The model is rehearsed and its versatility and robustness validated in practical studies. The model s design draws on the notion that places∗are palimpsests, where vestiges of earlier uses of the land remain written on the face of the landscape and are also recorded in documents - manuscript and print. A scaled score card approach is adopted to record and assess the strength of the presence of selected illustrative characteristics which define the identity of places. It is considered that the model has potential for contributing an innovative approach for documentation and monitoring of intangible and tangible cultural heritage - and should also contribute new more empiric understandings of the phenomenon of place.Definition of place followed: A site, area, land, landscape, building or other work, group of buildings or other works, and may include components, contents, spaces and views (ICOMOS, website accessed April 2007 - citing revised Burra Charter, 1999).