Abstract

In the context of Hanoi’s rapid urban expansion, Dan Phuong District preserves a vibrant yet overlooked ecosystem of peri-urban cultural heritage. This article reinterprets heritage not as a static legacy, but as a dynamic assemblage of humans, materials, memory, and place, using postmodern and posthumanist frameworks. Drawing on mixed methods—including surveys with 300 residents and interviews with 22 artisans and officials—the study identifies a paradox: high cultural awareness exists alongside limited engagement in conservation. This disconnect stems from fragmented heritage structures and the absence of intermediary institutions. In response, the article proposes a relational model of heritage rooted in co-agency, ecological entanglement, and the performativity of space. The model challenges linear preservation logics and reframes heritage as an active field of becoming embedded in everyday life. It contributes to rethinking cultural governance in Southeast Asian peripheries, advocating heritage not as relic or commodity, but as a living infrastructure of regeneration.