Conservation of this macro cultural landscape is consequently crucial to safeguard Bhaktapur’s cultural heritage. Without limiting its definition into either materialist or constructivist conceptions of authenticity,
the spirit of place is articulated here as a set of meanings that emerges through the way it is 15 experienced and negotiated in the relationships between the place and its residents, within a certain historical and cultural context. Safeguarding such intangible socio-cultural values need to be a vital part of any heritage management project. The sense of any place is temporal, nonetheless; the ways people define and value a place’s core dimensions and risk dimensions vary with time and demographic shifts. It is, therefore, important to periodically re-evaluate the way people understand and value the sense of place of their heritage.