Heritage conflict evolution: changing framing strategies and opportunity structures in two heritage district redevelopment projects in China

Abstract

Heritage district (re)development usually involves conflict, especially when the local community challenges existing preservation policy arrangements, and conflicts involve the framing of competing positions in the public sphere. While framing strategy aids in understanding conflict dynamics, further theoretical exploration is necessary. This paper emphasizes the role of contextual influence and how opportunity structures can enhance framing analysis's explanatory power in tracing the evolution of heritage district redevelopment conflicts. We perceive opportunity structures as emerging properties of interactive relationships between contending actors' framing strategies (agency) and the contextual systems where they assert their claims (structure). Through an analysis of the media frames, policy documents and interviews with 50 relevant actors, we investigate two heritage conflicts in China. The results show that conflict is shaped by diverse heritage values and competing interests as well as the presence of short-lived or long-lived opportunities. Opportunities may be missed even when conditions are conducive to achieving actors' goals. Visibility, resonance, and legitimacy are three key aspects of opportunity structures that provide advantages or disadvantages to contending actors. Policymakers benefit from consonance, which refers to positive resonance, and legitimacy within opportunity structures, which substantiates their heritage redevelopment initiatives. For policy challengers seeking to influence heritage-related policy, the visibility, resonance, and legitimacy aspects within opportunity structures stand as pivotal.