Participation Model for Conserving the Religious Heritage Buildings: Case Study of Chinese Temples along the North Coastal Area of Java

Community participation in the heritage management is something that cannot be avoided. The awareness of community participation has been growing rapidly in many countries. In Indonesia, there has been a change of mindset, i.e. from the top down approach to the bottom up one. However, this community participation is still considered sporadic and individual. The research is aimed at creating a role model or a form of community participation that can be effectively used in heritage management based on the strategy used by the Chinese temple community along the north coastal area of Java. The research is the result of the extensive fieldwork using both qualitative and quantitative methods: survey questionnaires, observation and in-depth interview. The result of the research shows that the strategy applied by the Chinese temple community is such an effective strategy and can be used to develop a heritage management model, especially of religious buildings, that provides a quite big opportunity for the community to get involved Keyword