SPATIAL SELECTION OF HERITAGE AND TRANSFER OF LOCAL IDENTITY: A DUAL CASE STUDY BASED ON TWO HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL DISTRICTS IN CITY F, CHINA

Abstract. By comparing the successive development, government planning, and public expectations of two landmark historical and cultural districts in F city, this paper attempts to explore the state’s selection and cultural setting of heritage spaces, as well as the identity transfer of local residents in individual memory and collective creation. With case studies on historical districts of S and Y neighborhoods, this paper argues that the selection of heritage spaces is actually a borrowing of local history and culture by the state’s modernization tendency. With the extinction/reformation of the medium of identity, the aborigines struggle with disappearance of their place and the affirmation of heritage, eventually extending the boundaries of the meaning of “place” and shifting local identity to national and ethnic identity.