Social housing as built heritage: the presence and absence of affective heritage

This chapter uses the lens of affective heritage to consider some of the implications of designating housing, in particular social housing, as cultural heritage for residents’ and former residents’ sense of belonging to place. In doing so it adds to debates within heritage studies that question traditional processes of heritage management and their tendency to obscure and undermine the cultural meanings of landscape and the built environment for communities (Waterton, 2005). It does this by drawing on empirical material generated during walking tours with residents and visitors of the unique case of the Byker estate, Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Through a lens of affective heritage, the memories, ordinary affects and affective atmospheres emerging during the walking tour open up gaps between what is valued as heritage by residents, and what is designated heritage by the authorised heritage sector.