Impacts of Common Urban Development Factors on Cultural Conservation in World Heritage Cities: An Indicators-Based Analysis

Abstract

Within the urban context, heritage conservation has been acknowledged as fundamental for sustainable development. This paper address the need to develop methodologies that enable understanding of the dynamics between these two fields that for long were regarded as opposing practices. The research crosses disciplinary boundaries through a mixed methodology that identifies 27 urban development common indicators as factors that are affecting the conservation of 69 World Heritage Cities (WHC). Indicators, which were selected from global urban monitoring tools, were analyzed within UNESCO State-of-Conservation reporting system. Results reveal key trends on urban factors assessed as a SWOT analysis in relation to the management of WHC. We argue that urban indicators can facilitate the understanding of development impacts in cultural heritage conservation, across the social, economic, and environmental dimensions. This paper contributes to the debate on the ability of indicators to bridge interdisciplinary and methodological issues that were related to common conceptualizations between urban development and heritage conservation and sustainability. The conceptual approach that is presented has proven to offer an empirical basis for a monitoring practice that fosters the sustainable management of urban heritage, which in the light of the New Development Agenda and the gaps in the state-of-the-art, is very much needed.

Monitoring Climate Change in World Heritage Properties: Evaluating Landscape-Based Approach in the State of Conservation System

“…Here, the upscaling of conservation actions (generally targeting individual species or monuments) to an entire landscape helps to understand how objects of conservation relate to one another and how they are part of economic, environmental, social and cultural change processes [26,49,50]. In this way, landscape scale represents the wider physical/spatial context in which heritage resources are located, encompassing all possible interactions within a system [51], including the urban context [29]. Hence, conservation that employs a landscape-based approach requires managing the co-benefits and trade-offs between a wide range of stakeholders.…”

“…Consequently, monitoring using a landscape-based approach can provide a basis for revising and improving management and conservation practices by considering the complexity of human institutions and behaviours in the context of environmentally driven change [46,59]. In practice, this requires transdisciplinary and collaborative approaches that are able to validate different data levels and sources [29,60]. To articulate the evidence needed and produced by different stakeholders into individual value systems, a shared conservation vision must be agreed on alongside the coordination of activities for implementing relevant measures [61,62].…”

“…Thus, SOC reports can be used to systematically assess patterns linked to the identification of threats to WH areas, management deficiencies, and conservation needs and developments [76]. For example, it has enabled the monitoring and quantification of the qualitative aspects of factors affecting the conservation of cultural and mixed heritage properties across time and geographical location [29].…”

“…SOC reports have largely been discussed in the literature as proof of the politicised conformation of the WH List [20,27] and have been criticised for lacking reliable measures to ensure the effective conservation of WH properties over time [28]. These reports have also proven to be a key source for providing valuable information on trends of conservation practices and on factors affecting the conservation of properties [29]. The empirical analyses presented herein identifies four landscape principles based on theory that are increasingly shaping the debate around climate change issues regarding WH properties.…”

Social Impact Evaluation in Culture-led Regeneration Processes: Reflections on the “Social Return On Investment” Perspective

“…Taken as a complex whole, these topics highlight the close relationships between the current trends of urbanization, the challenge of cultural heritage conservation and reuse, and current urban planning strategies. On the one hand, the approach to heritage conservationgradually changing from mono-disciplinary to integratedincludes community engagement and the management of change at the city level (Ginzarly et al, 2019;Guzman et al, 2018;Rey Pérez & González Martínez, 2018). On the other hand, more and more political and urban agendas are focusing on cultural heritage as one of the pivotal core strategies for sustainable urban development (European Commision, 2014;Horizon 2020Expert Group on Cultural Heritage, 2015Potts, 2016;UNESCO, 2016a).…”