Preservation of Natural and Cultural Heritage, Change, and Social Identity: Towards an Integration of the Time Dimension

In this paper I briefly discuss the subject of preservation of both natural and cultural heritage through the discussion of a few related theoretical points from the perspective of a historian of geographical ideas, and with the help of a few authors, such as David Lowenthal, and Jean Gottmann, which I consider essential to my reflections. Today, almost everyone seems to agree on the need to preserve the natural environment, and on that of protecting cultural heritage, as well as on the social benefits of protecting both. The first advantage of adopting a historical perspective is that we may see that this view has not always been the same. The second advantage is that a historical perspective may help us to historicize our present theories and approaches. And a third advantage related to the previous is that such historicizing may perhaps open to theoretical evolution. In particular, as we shall see, my conclusion is that, beyond environment and space, we may benefit from including also the time dimension.