@article{627,
  author = {H. Thomson},
  title = {Protecting cultural landscapes: the challenge of old order Amish and Mennonite heritage in Waterloo Region},
  abstract = {<p>The article \“Protecting Cultural Landscapes: The Challenge of Old Order Amish and Mennonite Heritage in Waterloo Region\” by Heather Thomson (2001) investigates the opinions of planners and other planning-related professionals about heritage planning as a tool to conserve cultural landscapes developed by Old Order Mennonite and Amish groups. The article first gives an outline of the purpose and methods of the study, which included interviewing planners and related professionals about their opinions regarding the composition of, threats to, and protection strategies for conserving \“Amish and Mennonite Landscapes\”. The interviews took place in Waterloo Region, Ontario, and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania \– two geographic areas that maintained large Old Order Mennonite and Amish populations for centuries. The article then gives a brief overview of the history and beliefs of the Mennonite and Amish religious movements, and discusses the findings of the interview questions asked to participants in Waterloo Region and Lancaster County. An important finding was that a large majority of interviewed planners and professionals in Waterloo Region did not believe heritage planning played an important role when planning in Old Order Mennonite and Amish communities. Unlike interview participants in Waterloo Region, however, a majority of planners and professionals interviewed in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, identified heritage planning and cultural landscape preservation as important tools for managing tourism, determining what the Old Order communities valued most in the landscape, and preserving the Old Order way of life. The article also briefly identifies some differences between Heritage Conservation Districts in Waterloo Region (where designated districts are mostly urban) and Lancaster County (where many designated districts are rural). Thomson\’s article concludes with a discussion section on challenges and opportunities, which aims to explain the discrepancies between how planners and professionals in Waterloo Region and Lancaster County understood heritage planning\’s role in planning for Old Order communities. Thomson identifies ambiguity in Ontario\’s provincial planning legislation regarding heritage landscapes, as well as the view that heritage planning is a specialized field rather than a tool within a comprehensive planning strategy, as possible reasons for the discrepancy. The author finishes the article with the recommendation that municipalities should explore what other municipal governments have done in regard to cultural landscape planning to gain a more full understanding of heritage planning\’s usefulness in Old Order communities and elsewhere.</p>
},
  year = {2001},
  journal = {2001 PRFO Proceedings},
  chapter = {301-306},
}