Cultural Heritage and City Development

DOCUMENTS

Managing Urban Identities: Aim or Tool of Urban Regeneration?  Read more
Synthesis of Baseline Studies of the URBACT projects focusing on 'Integrated and sustainable development"  Read more

Cultural Heritage and City Development



In all member states, historic towns and cities bear witness to both a shared European heritage as well as rich cultural diversity.

Many urban landscapes and identities are marked by a built environment whose physical characteristics refer to a process of development stretching back over centuries. Individual monuments and landmarks, groups of buildings, street patterns and coherent ensembles inform us of our cities’ pasts, continuity of change through time, periods of ascendancy, remarkable events, or ruptures in the urban fabric as a result of conflict or transformation. Emotional, physical and even economic attachment to the built heritage has generated a valuable culture of monument preservation, conservation areas, heritage sites, etc., where considerations of authenticity interact with those of functional adaptation.

Tangible heritage is an integral part of the "living" city, it is a force of attraction contributing to image and quality perception, it provides special locations for many key urban activities and interactions, it has a strong economic potential (and not exclusively from tourism). Therefore as urban settlements develop, change or grow, a recurrent and ongoing questioning of the role of this feature of our cities is justified. While the guiding principles of the Venice Charter, and UNESCO (World Heritage) criteria, retain absolute validity the main challenge for city authorities and agencies in this respect is to construct a responsible and manageable interpretation in the face of contemporary ambitions, (sustainable) development pressures and processes. This is infinitely more complex than a "museological treatment versus unbridled modernisation"

The project REPAIR presents an interesting angle to approach this debate via the re-use of abandoned military heritage, particularly focussing on "new" objectives or moral obligations to take energy efficiency, waste management, sustainable accessibility and local employment into account in the restoration formula. In addition HerO provides a worthy complement here in its search to devise integrated systems of cultural heritage management, preserving and developing historic urban landscapes as a key facet of the dynamic multi-functional city. Two additional projects which started their "Development phase" (6 months) in the final weeks of 2009 reaffirm the interest in this aspect of urban development. The LINKS project led by the city of Bayonne seeks to establish a positive relationship between living/housing in historic inner cities, promotion of the sustainable urban model and the preservation of architectural identity and heritage value. Historicentres_Net has a strong correlation with the subjects being addressed by the HerO project targeting public policy coordination and investment in historical centres as an essential feature of integrated and sustainable urban management. It is hoped that CTUR and Creative Clusters a project from the Economic development and Jobs Pole can also make a contribution to this sub-theme on the issue of innovative entrepreneurship in the context of the urban cultural heritage.

 

1. Building on common issues
2. URBACT ARTICLES – Cultural Heritage and City Development
3. URBACT REPORTS – Cultural Heritage and City Development
4. URBACT EVENTS – Cultural Heritage and City Development
5. Other EVENTS relevant for Cities concerned with Cultural Heritage and City Development
6. Useful LINKS for Cities working on Cultural Heritage and City Development
7. URBACT CASE STUDIES – Cultural Heritage and City Development
8. Additional Resources

 

1. Building on common issues

During 2009 the projects involved in this subject area concentrated joint reflection on aspects of identity: the significance of identity in an urban heritage context; the meaning of identity for various population groups; and the role of identity as a force for both economic and social well-being in historic cities. This first exchange across projects on the issue culminated in the article "Managing Urban Identities: Aim or Tool of Urban Regeneration?" and inspired a workshop held during the URBACT Annual Conference in Stockholm "Identity and the City: Urban identity, an asset for sustainable development in times of globalisation". Both the article, which is included in the publication "The URBACT Tribune" and the report of conference workshop can be consulted by clicking on the links.

In 2010 the orientation of cooperation between HerO, REPAIR, CTUR, LINKS and Historicentres_Net... is set to examine the potential benefits to be derived from appropriate and responsible management of historic urban landscapes. While the majority of older European cities accommodate important heritage components these, often key areas or determinant elements of the urban environment, are not universally realising their potential in terms of producing economic return or engendering quality of life. Main aspects for consideration include:

  • How to maximise the economic impact of historic urban landscapes both in terms of the market and city finance
  • How to ensure that social and environmental objectives can also benefit from "exploitation" of the urban heritage
  • Establishing the "carrying capacity" of historic cities as a feature of sustainable management practices
  • Balancing the force of attraction, responding to demands and expectations of visitors while maintaining viable urban communities based on existing populations

 

2. URBACT ARTICLES – Cultural Heritage and City Development

This article is the result of collaboration between three networks where the Net-Topic project is in fact not directly concerned with the subject of historical heritage. In this sense the paper examines the complexity of urban identity both from  the perspective of responding to an established and recognised continuity but also in terms of imagining the role of identity as a positive force in new urban contexts.

 

3. URBACT REPORTS – Cultural Heritage and City Development

In this Good Practice Compilation produced by the HerO project, the network was very quick to invite partners to identify and present tools and practices adopted in their cities in response to questions of Protecting Visual Integrity and Applying Integrated Revitalisation Approaches. The document brings together 18 good practices on these issues, derived from 9 city partners. The compilation of 2-3 page resumés ( Liverpool, Regensburg, Valetta, Vilnius, Lublin, Poitiers, Graz, Sighisoara and Naples) allows us to have an immediate overview of the challenge faced by each city and the planned, implemented or ongoing actions. Each case is punctuated by links to relevant contact persons so that those who wish to know more, on the Liverpool "Buildings at Risk Initiative" or community involvement with the Vilnius Old Town Renewal Agency for example, can have a direct contact with informed local representatives.

The edited compilation is a particularly useful and visible way of informing us of the issues concerning cities in this network and of potentials for intervention:
It is recommended as an inviting compact overview in respect of the two sub-themes covered.

This document of pen-portrait examples is also important as an intermediate step in the development of the network activity. It builds on the contextual profiles of the baseline study and forms a means of comparing the key areas of concern (amongst the partners). In this way, more detailed and targeted cases can be selected and deepened to ensure concrete transfer of operational know-how on sustainable management processes and practice - adopted to (re)vitalise historic urban landscapes.        

 

4. URBACT EVENTS – Cultural Heritage and City Development

  • REPAIR partner Work Group Meeting
    Pillar IV "Local Jobs for Local People"
    4-5 February 2010, Karlskrona, Sweden
  • LINKS 1st Partner Meeting
    18-20 February 2010, Bayonne
  • Historicentres.Net 1st Partner Meeting
    23 February 2010, Faenza
  • CTUR 5th Thematic Seminar
    Cruise Traffic: "Economic and Social Generator"
    24-26 March 2010, Alicante - Valencia
  • REPAIR partner Work Group Meeting
    Pillar I "Integrating Renewable Energy"
    7-10 April 2010, Paola Corradino, Malta
  • HerO Thematic Workshop
    "Visual Integrity of Historic Landscapes"
    9-12 May 2010, Vilnius

 

5. Other EVENTS relevant for Cities concerned with Cultural Heritage and City Development

  • International Congress on Tourism Heritage and Innovation
    21-23 June, 2010 CIT 2010 Heritage and Innovation, Porto
  • Heritage 2010: 2nd International Conference on Heritage and Sustainable Development
    22-26 June, 2010 – Evora, Portugal
  • Conference on Cultural  Heritage and New Technologies
    Invisible Towns: Archaeology and Cultural Heritage in Urban Areas
    15-17 November, 2010 - Vienna


6. Useful LINKS for Cities working on Cultural Heritage and City Development


7. URBACT CASE STUDIES – Cultural Heritage and City Development
(content coming soon)

 

8. Additional Resources