Paper short abstract:

The question which coastal heritage elements are worth preserving is central within the activities of a successful Dutch stakeholder platform. This case offers theoretical and practical insights on stakeholder involvement and participatory aspects of heritage management.

Paper long abstract:

The Netherlands is shaped through interactions with the sea and tidal rivers. Many former coastlines have disappeared or transformed into lakeshores, and former sea defenses now sit within a polder landscape. This paper argues that many of the material remains in the Dutch coastal landscape - canals, sluices, harbours, etcetera - represent 'morality' in two ways. First, when the historical landscapes that included these remains were developed, the artefacts (or technologies) co-shaped the relationship between humans and their world. The material expressions of moral decisions of access and control continued to be present in the landscape and are appreciated today as heritage, the second way morality relates to coastal landscapes: which landscape elements are considered worth preserving and which are not? This question is central within the activities of the "Water Triangle Heritage Table", a successful stakeholder platform in the densely populated province of Zuid Holland that proposes heritage projects and co-creates provincial heritage policy in a tidal area. The Water Triangle includes three major heritage sites: (i) The Biesbosch tidal wetland, one of the country's largest national parks, was created by flooding in 1421 and includes many heritage sites; (ii) The Kinderdijk UNESCO Heritage site, on the old Alblasserwaard polder, includes 19 windmills that used to drain the land within this tidal region; (iii) Between Biesbosch and Kinderdijk, former sea defenses are visible in Dordrecht, a city that has linked sea and hinterland for centuries. This case offers theoretical and practical insights on stakeholder involvement and participatory aspects of heritage management.