Managing Change and Master Plans: Machu Picchu Between Conservation and Exploitation

Machu Picchu is among the world’s most controversial heritage sites. It represents a case where raising money through ticket sales and other activities, rather than an opportunity to fund site preservation, in fact constitutes a major threat to the survival of the site through overexploitation. Unes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archaeologies 2011-08, Vol.7 (2), p.329-371
Main Authors: Zan, Luca, Lusiani, Maria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropology
Archaeology
Cultural Heritage
Social Sciences
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Summary:Machu Picchu is among the world’s most controversial heritage sites. It represents a case where raising money through ticket sales and other activities, rather than an opportunity to fund site preservation, in fact constitutes a major threat to the survival of the site through overexploitation. Unesco has been very critical in recent decades about the management of Machu Picchu. International pressure resulted in the establishment of two master plans, in 1998 and in 2005. In this paper we investigate in depth the contents and rhetoric of the two plans, comparing changes in the two different versions, and linking the change in planning attitude to actual changes taking place in the site. This is also an opportunity to open a discussion on the interdisciplinarity of master plans in heritage sites.
ISSN:1555-8622
1935-3987
DOI:10.1007/s11759-011-9167-7