Urban heritage conservation and civic participation: A complex relationship. The case of the Old City of Quebec
Researchers have not paid enough attention to the relations between urban heritage conservation and management, on the one hand, and civic participation, on the other hand. Upon investigating theses relations, researchers have foremost focused on conflicts arising between policy makers and lobbying groups. Starting from an approach relying on discourse analysis, this article proposes that the relations between urban heritage conservation and civic participation are made by the sharing of ideas, as well as negotiations and tensions with policy makers. The article is based on the case of the Old City of Quebec. The Old City of Quebec, a historic district stretched on 1.5 km2, has been the subject of heritage-making since the 1950s, a process through which it has been perceived and described as the “birthplace of New France”.