URBAN CULTURAL HERITAGE -A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The Heritage Urbanism project is based on the premise that heritage must not only be a historic monument (protected object), but also an active factor (creative entity) in contemporary life and cultural, social, economic, and spatial development of a community. Recognizing the importance of basic cultural and historic research that leads to better understanding of cultural heritage, as well as its spatial context, the conference will cover three major paper topics focused on the following guidelines: • criteria, methods, models and scenarios of revitalization and enhancement of cultural heritage • new high-quality interventions that turn cultural heritage into an essential local development factor.

WIT Transactions on the Built Environment, 2022

Cities with no memories certainly miss the joy of presenting the past and, as a result, struggle to dream of building their future. The aim of this research stems from the importance of urban and architectural heritage in historic districts of cities in the present and future. This importance leads to sustainable development, which satisfies the needs of the present and protects future rights. Also, it highlights the importance of studying "urban conservation". Moreover, there is an increasing population growth which causes expansion in contemporary cities; the reason behind this is the rapid expansion of modern urban, commercial and residential land use towards the historical centre of cities. The findings of this research confirm that orientation, which is accentuated in the present, is necessary to link the conservation of the old and planning for the contemporary projects in a unified architectural and constructional policy. The comparative research methodology uses an analytical approach through many successful and unsuccessful experiments and attempts to answer several questions, such as: What is urban conservation? How do cities of historical depth deal with modern planning? What should we do as we face the rapid increase in modern needs in the present? What are the reasons behind the loss of urban heritage? Why does urban heritage decrease, particularly in Arab cities? Finally, the research reaches its conclusions and possible recommendations. This paper shows that preventing the new residential expansion or any other modern function in the historical centre is a must unless done to create a balance between the old and contemporary through rehabilitating and investing in the heritage.

Geo Eye, 2020

Achieving sustainable development has been a global concern for decades. The urban situation in most developing countries has been chaotic with a fast-paced unregulated developmental boom. In India, the uncontrolled urban advancement has been an outcome of its rapid urbanisation in nearly every city. Consequently, this is leading to the hasty decline in the urban cultural built heritage. This paper, therefore, tries to look into urban (built) heritage in Indian Cities and makes an endeavour to point out how rapid urbanisation and unplanned development can affect the city heritage. Deemed as a fast urbanising Indian city (also a smart city) with evaporating cultural heritage, the research undertook Visakhapatnam as a case study. Urban heritage – Cultural heritage – urbanisation - Vizag heritage - Vernacular-building - Endangered cultural heritage - Urbanisation and conservation - heritage in urbanising societies. Keywords: Urban heritage; Cultural heritage; Urbanisation; Vizag herita...

The heritage community has long faced difficulties with the theoretical as well as practical challenges of managing continuity on the scale of historic cities. Identifying individual components of the architectural heritage and selected areas for a variety of levels of conservation, from the benign to the interventionist, has largely proved to be the limit of attainment. In the generality of situations, where the survival of the components depends on their place within the whole, urban heritage is consequently at risk of suffering unnecessary losses. This is especially the case where the culturally sensitive historic cores of towns and cities are the primary focus of pressures for major change or redevelopment and counterbalancing policies are not in place to address those pressures proactively. Recent years have seen a number of reflections on urban heritage: notably, at the international level, by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Centre and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). Deriving as they do from a vital but largely self-contained set of cultural heritage parameters and interests, their impact on positioning heritage at the core of urban planning and development processes has been limited. The essential human factor has not really been taken into account. With a focus on Europe, this paper looks beyond a paradigm founded on a limited perception of values to the objective of positioning the spectrum of urban heritage within the mainstream of urban planning policy and practice. This is a province dominated on a professional level by the broad discipline of geography, in which the urban geographer is the often-overlooked but essential ally for a constructive partnership. A second paper, in the following issue of this journal, takes the debate forward and addresses the governance of urban heritage.

International Review for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development, 2017

Governments are increasingly recognizing the contribution that cultural heritage makes to the social wellbeing of diverse groups living within progressively multicultural towns and cities. This could not be more evident than in the case of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE-a city which has undergone a significant transformation in the last five decades and has been known for its cultural diversity. Several government initiatives and community programs are being launched to promote more sustainable alternatives to urban development. Recognizing the urgent need to safeguard the surviving stock of modern buildings dating back to the late 1960s, the Abu Dhabi government launched the Modern Heritage Preservation Initiative five years ago. This paper explores the role that built cultural heritage can play to improve the public realm within sustainable urbanism. It considers the changing definitions of urbanistic heritage before outlining the broad contribution this cultural resource can make. Insight gained from participating in public workshops and interacting with government agencies and community organizations is presented. This is followed by case studies that highlight some of the trends and challenges to the preservation of urban heritage and the creation of quality public spaces. The paper concludes with a discussion of the shortcomings of existing approaches to urban development and suggests a holistic approach to achieve a greater understanding of how to integrate physical public realm heritage conservation into sustainable urbanism.

International Journal for Innovation Education and Research, 2022

The changes related to the occupation of Brazilian territory that took place in the 70's and 80's brought great transformations and challenges to cities, a fact that triggered the need for organization and management of these territories. From the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1934, a movement emerged regarding the legal treatment of issues related to urbanism and its cultural heritage. The legal regulations’ evolution process that permeate the cities continued to walk with the Constitution of 1988 and the City Statute (2001), which in turn, guides Brazilian municipalities regarding their public administrations through the Municipal Master Plans. In this way, the study in question is justified based on the issues that permeate cities, with their complex and constantly changing systems. The present research is directed to emphasize theoretical approach studies on cultural heritage through the vision of the city. This work is based on bibliographic research, of a basic nat...

socio.hu, 2018

One can hardly find two more broadly discussed -and somewhat related -expressions than heritage and the city, which also suggest numerous other major topics such as cultural value, sustainability, creative industry or social inclusion. Accordingly the book by its title assumes a very rich and multifarious reading that is also the expressed aim of the editors who writes in the introductory chapter "we hope that the volume will inspire further reflection and broaden the scope of the discussions dedicated to the city among heritage experts and professionals [S]imultaneously, in the case of the city-loving non-professional readership" (p. 11). This wish is truly fulfilled with the publication of this 2017 work, edited by Robert Kusek and Jacek Purchla. The book is the product of the International Cultural Centre in Krakow, Poland, one of the most prestigious research institutes of (among other disciplines heritage studies in Central Europe). It manages numerous innovative cultural projects, and supports specialists with its outstanding library, summer schools and conferences.

The integral management of urban development and cultural heritage protection, on individual basis, has proven to contribute to the sustainability of local communities. Instead, economic stagnancy was noticed when cultural heritage protection would overrule urban development. Paradoxically, the loss of cultural values and identity is likely to happen when urban development is prioritized over cultural heritage protection. The two major threats to cultural World Heritage properties are management deficiencies and aggressive development. Thus, the integral management of urban development and cultural heritage protection is far from being reached on general basis. Even though, this paradigm has stimulated academics to define more holistic approaches at both theoretical and operational levels, the development of tools and more appropriate methodologies to relate urban development and cultural heritage protection is still lacking. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of th...