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UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape

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Understanding Heritage
This chapter is in the book Understanding Heritage
UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape¹Michael TurnerPoems Belonging to a Reader For Those Who Live in Cities Bertolt BrechtThe cities were built for you. They are eager to welcome you. The doors of the houses are wide open. The meal Ready on the table. (Brecht, 1976, p. 141)IntroductionThe debate on the management of urban areas came to centre stage with the final touches to the UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape, dis-cussed at the General Conference of 2011. The litmus test will be the capacity of Member States to adapt and apply the Recommendation. Whether we can manage change effectively and eliminate apparent heritage-development conflicts depends on the capabilities of the authorities to direct development, on the one hand, and their recognition of the evolving relationships of planning and conservation in the history of the city, on the other. The Recommendation notes that urban changes, especially rapid growth, both social and physical, have brought about the need for an improved language to discuss and define the urban scene, to analyse the problems and put forward solu-tions that are meaningful and can be measured and monitored. It presents an inte-grative approach to grasping the knowledge of the city. Heritage and development, seen until now as an oxymoron, its components regarded as mutually exclusive, can possibly be understood as denoting a desirable urban growth framework. With the adoption of this Recommendation by the UNESCO General Conference in November 2011, and based on new precedents and best practice, a new exegesis will evidently 1 Presentation given at the Neue Residenz, Bamberg, as part of the meeting on Quality Control and Conflict Management at World Heritage Sites (14–15 July 2011), organized by the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development in conjunction with the German Commission for UNESCO and the City of Bamberg.

UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape¹Michael TurnerPoems Belonging to a Reader For Those Who Live in Cities Bertolt BrechtThe cities were built for you. They are eager to welcome you. The doors of the houses are wide open. The meal Ready on the table. (Brecht, 1976, p. 141)IntroductionThe debate on the management of urban areas came to centre stage with the final touches to the UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape, dis-cussed at the General Conference of 2011. The litmus test will be the capacity of Member States to adapt and apply the Recommendation. Whether we can manage change effectively and eliminate apparent heritage-development conflicts depends on the capabilities of the authorities to direct development, on the one hand, and their recognition of the evolving relationships of planning and conservation in the history of the city, on the other. The Recommendation notes that urban changes, especially rapid growth, both social and physical, have brought about the need for an improved language to discuss and define the urban scene, to analyse the problems and put forward solu-tions that are meaningful and can be measured and monitored. It presents an inte-grative approach to grasping the knowledge of the city. Heritage and development, seen until now as an oxymoron, its components regarded as mutually exclusive, can possibly be understood as denoting a desirable urban growth framework. With the adoption of this Recommendation by the UNESCO General Conference in November 2011, and based on new precedents and best practice, a new exegesis will evidently 1 Presentation given at the Neue Residenz, Bamberg, as part of the meeting on Quality Control and Conflict Management at World Heritage Sites (14–15 July 2011), organized by the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development in conjunction with the German Commission for UNESCO and the City of Bamberg.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Preface v
  3. Preface vi
  4. Contents ix
  5. The Cottbus Declaration on Heritage Studies 1
  6. Introduction 3
  7. Heritage Studies – Paradigmatic Reflections 9
  8. A Shift of Paradigm in Interpretation and Identification
  9. Heritage Interpretation as Public Discourse 21
  10. Learning to Engage with Human Rights in Heritage 35
  11. Cultural Landscape Theory and Practice 49
  12. Concepts and Developments over the Course of Time
  13. The Shift towards Conservation 69
  14. UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape 77
  15. Managing Change 89
  16. Understanding Heritage – Beyond the Construction of Meanings
  17. The Concept behind the Word 107
  18. The Absence of Presence 117
  19. Materializing the Immaterial 135
  20. Heritage in Transition – Challenges of New Media
  21. Documentary Heritage, Digital Technologies and the Dissemination of Knowledge 155
  22. Studying Heritage in the Digital Era 169
  23. Meaning of the Internet for the Intangible Heritage Convention 183
  24. Notes on Contributors 193
  25. Index 199
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110308389.77

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Preface v
  3. Preface vi
  4. Contents ix
  5. The Cottbus Declaration on Heritage Studies 1
  6. Introduction 3
  7. Heritage Studies – Paradigmatic Reflections 9
  8. A Shift of Paradigm in Interpretation and Identification
  9. Heritage Interpretation as Public Discourse 21
  10. Learning to Engage with Human Rights in Heritage 35
  11. Cultural Landscape Theory and Practice 49
  12. Concepts and Developments over the Course of Time
  13. The Shift towards Conservation 69
  14. UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape 77
  15. Managing Change 89
  16. Understanding Heritage – Beyond the Construction of Meanings
  17. The Concept behind the Word 107
  18. The Absence of Presence 117
  19. Materializing the Immaterial 135
  20. Heritage in Transition – Challenges of New Media
  21. Documentary Heritage, Digital Technologies and the Dissemination of Knowledge 155
  22. Studying Heritage in the Digital Era 169
  23. Meaning of the Internet for the Intangible Heritage Convention 183
  24. Notes on Contributors 193
  25. Index 199
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