Continuing Education Main Headline

IFT hosts international course on World Heritage site management

中文摘要 / Summary in Chinese

IFT hosted in October an international course on management and monitoring of sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The scheme attracted more than 20 government officials, experts and private-sector professionals from all around the world, including from Mainland China, Macao, and elsewhere in Asia, Europe, Africa and South America.

The programme – held from 8 to 19 October – was organised by the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, and Macao’s Cultural Affairs Bureau. IFT was one of the co-organisers, with the course taking place at IFT’s Taipa Campus.

Two of the seminars included in the training course were open to the public, in an effort to build community awareness of the significance for Macao of the management of the historic urban landscape.

Heritage preservation has become a topic of great interest in Macao in recent years, as the city strives to achieve the right balance between economic growth – including via Macao’s expanding entertainment sector – and preservation and safeguarding of the city’s heritage.

Dr. Yonca Erkan, Associate Professor at Kadir Has University, Turkey, suggests an integrated approach to heritage management, in order to improve sustainability in historic urban landscapes. She was one of the speakers featured in the training course.

“When people look at conservation issues, they only look at buildings and structures. In fact, the physical heritage building is only an aspect of cultural heritage,” says Dr. Erkan.

During the course, the scholar – who is also a Senior Consultant to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre – made a number of references to the “UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape”. The document, adopted by UNESCO in 2011, aims to promote a holistic approach to managing historic urban landscapes, integrating the goals of urban heritage conservation and those of social and economic development.

An “integrated urban management methodology” brings together the “understanding of preservation of cultural heritage and urban development,” says Dr. Erkan. “It tells us to look into a wider possibility of urban context, value and ability of a city,” she adds. “It is rooted in a balanced and sustainable relationship between the urban and natural environment, between the needs of present and future generations.”

She further notes regarding Macao, “most people only look at the colonial Portuguese heritage. But the city has a lot more layers.”

Intangible heritage such as art and craftsmanship – but also layers such as overall identity of place and geomorphology, and even the engineering of a city’s utilities such as its water supply system – can be factors in the overall value of a heritage property.

“For example when we look at a castle, the reason for that castle to be built in that particular location is because of its strategic importance; its association with a wider region,” says Dr. Erkan. “The location of a castle serves as a natural layer of protection” for the people that built it, against their enemies.

Unifying stakeholders

Mr. Joseph King, Director of the Sites Unit at ICCROM – the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property – agrees with the need for an integrated approach to heritage management. He was also one of the speakers featured on the training course.

“All sites, one way or another, have… cultural and natural heritage attached to them. There are cultural heritage values in a natural heritage site and vice versa.”

Mr. King adds: “When developing a management system, don’t just look at the heritage property, but [look] to develop a system that takes into account its larger context.”

This implies the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders in the field of safeguarding heritage.

“If you want to have a strong management system to protect [heritage] values for a long period of time, you need to be able to bring together the community and other stakeholders including local communities, local governments, national governments, non-governmental organisations, [and] professionals,” explains Mr. King.

“Even within the community,” he continues, “you need to make sure everyone, including the residents, shop owners and business people, understand the importance – and are willing to participate one way or another – in the protection of [heritage] values.”

“Involving the local community is never easy but it is the only way to ensure success,” he says.

Mr. King cites the case of Pimachiowin Aki, a sizeable forested area on the border between Manitoba and Ontario provinces in Canada. It has been inhabited by indigenous people – the Anishinaabeg – for some 6,000 years. The site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List earlier this year for its cultural and natural significance.

At the core of Anishinaabeg cultural tradition is Ji-ganawendamang Gidakiiminaan, which means “keeping the lands”. Its beliefs and values are sustained by systems of customary governance based on family structures and respect for elders, and through oral traditions that preserve detailed knowledge of the land.

The 30,000-square-kilometre site is criss-crossed by waterways that reflect the Ji-ganawendamang Gidakiiminaan culture and serve to connect the many ancient and contemporary areas of human economic activity, sacred sites, travel routes and named places that are scattered across the landscape.

“The site has a very good integrated approach to management. There was a long process of getting this site inscribed on the list and getting the buy-in from the community and linking them to cultural and natural aspects,” Mr. King says.

President’s Corner

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