Paper short abstract:

This paper investigates the concept of decay in heritage spaces. Through an observation of spaces of decay due to conflict and abandonment, notions of heritage are challenged. Heritage interventions are considered as interruptions of natural processes of decay, and relations to authenticity.

Paper long abstract:

In Cyprus, a place of conflict, the Buffer that separates the two communities of the island is a space of abandonment. Since the 60s, within the buffer zone has lied abandoned an area of urban and natural decay. The buffer divides the capital city and its walled old town, at times seeping and blending into its surroundings and at others materialising as a stark reminder of the past. This paper investigates the spaces of urban decay within and around the buffer, that have in recent years become the subject of conservation, restoration and preservation. The main arguments challenge the ethical aspects of heritage-making, that interrupt natural and social lives that have thrived in the abandonment. The paper then raises questions of heritage authenticity considering posthumanist approaches to decay. In places of conflict where the narratives of heritage are politicised and contested, the dominant narratives remain in history through diplomatic violence and erasure. The paper turns the lens towards the weeds and wildlife, the graffiti artists and (internal and external) refugees, the trespassers and developers that frequent the buffer zone area to consider the life of abandonment and challenge the value of normative heritage processes.