Historic urban landscapes : framing the integration of urban and heritage planning in multilevel governance

Urban development and heritage management have often been positioned as opposing powers in the management of historic urban landscapes. Heritage is seen as one of the ‘usual suspects’ of local grass-roots opposition to urban development, while development pressures are perceived as endangering heritage. In heritage theory and supranational policy, the trend is to recommend a holistic, integrated and multidisciplinary management of resources, by means of a new approach in heritage management: the landscape approach. In this context, landscape is defined as an inclusive and comprehensive platform that cannot be understood or managed except through an approach that embraces all its components. An urban application of this landscape approach is the historic urban landscape (HUL) approach, which is promoted by the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape. It provides the principles as well as guidance on implementing a landscape approach in national and subnational policy. Heritage management as a cultural practice has long been primarily about conserving the fabric of the past for future generations. As such it was more concentrated on the tangible and aesthetic dimensions of heritage. Instead, the historic urban landscape approach is considered holistic- and development-minded. It is not about allowing (or disallowing) transformation in itself, but about establishing and guiding the nature of the transformation. It addresses the future quality of the urban landscape and the relationships forming it. It positions heritage as an active change agent in the process of urban management. However, implementation on the national or subnational level proves to be a great challenge. The main aim of this thesis is to raise understanding of the integration of urban and heritage planning in multilevel governance, and in particular to explore ways to best reveal the relations between supranational and subnational policy. Heritage management is often subject to multilevel governance. A substantial body of laws, principles and policy guidelines, ranging from supra- to subnational levels are developed in this context. There is, however, a lack of systematic methods for comparative policy research in the field of cultural heritage. This hinders an understanding of policy transfer (vertical and horizontal) on a scale that goes beyond the case study, which then interferes with the feedback loop back into the supranational policies. In this research, a domain dependent taxonomy of heritage was identified in supranational policies. The taxonomy was used to develop a method of cross-referencing taxonomy, which was applied in a policy analysis tool. This tool can be used to analyse, classify and compare subnational urban and heritage policy policies. It facilitates the systematic identification of heritage concepts in policy. The tool was tested in Amsterdam by means of a series of three focus group interviews, held to introduce, apply and validate it. The results confirm the tool’s utility to cross-relate policies in multilevel governance. It allowed the interviewees to assess and reflect upon their policies and decide whether to revise them, in a constructive and evidence-based manner. While further research is needed to refine and optimize the taxonomy and its application in the policy analysis tool, it already promises to have applications beyond its initial aims. Vertical and horizontal comparison of policy provides input for evidence-based heritage planning and policy. The wider field of heritage significance and impact assessments could also benefit from exploring the application further

Historic urban landscapes : an assessment framework part II

Current theory defines conservation, or heritage management, as ‘managing thoughtful change’ and recommends a landscape-based approach towards heritage management. Moreover, it indicates a landscape-based approach to heritage management as a key indicator for sustainable socio-economic development. The recent UNESCO (November 2011) recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) provides guidance on such a landscape-based approach at international level. Yet, it is now up to the national and local governments to adapt, disseminate and facilitate its implementation. The research aims to develop a method to reveal the way historic cities currently manage contemporary socio-economic transformations. This is done by evaluating their management practices by means of an assessment framework. This framework has been deduced from a thorough literature survey to identify the evolution and guidelines on international cultural heritage management, including those proposed by HUL. The framework intents to be a method to reveal the differences and resemblances between existing local policy and management practices and those recommended by the HUL approach, defined for 4 dependent variables: attributes, values, stakeholders and strategies. The part of the framework presented in this paper to reveal how the values of cultural heritage are addressed in current policy. The recent adoption of HUL makes it difficult to assess the results of its implementation; therefore the framework will be used to assess the policy and management practices in cities that previously implemented measures similar to HUL such as Amsterdam. Keywords: Heritage Management, Historic Urban Landscape, Assessment Framewor

Research in architecture : reflection on three approaches linking research and design

Research in Architecture is not new, it is usually known as analysis or pre-design stage. Architects get acquainted with program requirements, project context and/or other inspiring works, including concepts on theory, philosophy or history. Seldom are the architects who design without any conceptual constraints. Ranging from a pure mental exercise to a fully noted process, each architect processes the available knowledge and converts it into a project proposal. As such, architecture is always somehow a product of a research into a solution for a problem. In this paper we analyze and discuss the pros and cons of three approaches linking research and design: evidence-based design, design in analogy and free design. Besides the state-of-the-art, this paper illustrates the approaches with final design projects by graduates (2009-2012) from the department of the Built Environment, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands, to exchange the experience gained over the past years while applying the different approaches in MSc graduate studios in Architecture. The paper discusses the role of Research in Architecture, elaborating on the argument that research and design have seen different forms of integration related to paradigmatic shifts in history. A school of Architecture should not be alienated to those; it should explore and reflect upon their impact. As such, the proposed reflections shall also include a discussion on the inherent raise of transparency and educational quality, as well as, on the added value of teaching multiple approaches within the context of one single School

Knowledge is power:monitoring the world heritage site of Amsterdam: a policy analysis

World Heritage Cities, like other cities, need to be able to evolve to meet the needs of their current and future citizens. This requires both socio-economic and urban development. The challenge lies in finding a balance between this need for development and the need to safeguard the cultural significance of urban heritage.The recently adopted UNESCO recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) aims to assist in finding this balance between development and conservation by providing guidance in the implementation of a so-called landscape-based approach. This comprehensive approach consists of six steps (A-F), this paper reflects on an investigation into the workings of the first step, 'mapping the cities natural, cultural and human resources', by looking at the World Heritage City of Amsterdam as a case study. Making use of, and as such testing, a recently developed framework based on the HUL and the evolution of global heritage policies leading to HUL, the current state of spatial and heritage policy in Amsterdam will be assessed, uncovering the possible gaps in resource mapping as recommended by HUL. This will add to the discussion whether or not the current policies in Amsterdam are accurate and detailed enough to manage their World Heritage Site, by the standards of the HUL. It will show to what degree Amsterdam's heritage policies comply with the HUL. It is revealed that Amsterdam maps both tangible and intangible resources, without distinguishing resources of cultural significance and factors that affect the property. Resources are mapped reactively on a need-base. The tangible resources are predominantly mapped on the level of the object, while the intangible resources are exclusively oriented towards functionality and society

Knowledge is power : policy analysis of the World Heritage property of Edinburgh

Current theory defines conservation as ‘managing thoughtful change’ and recommends a landscape-based approach towards urban heritage management. The recent UNESCO (2011) recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) provides guidance on such a landscape-based approach at an international level. However, it is now up to national and local governments to implement the six steps (A-F) presented in the HUL. By means of a policy assessment, this paper aims to reveal the incorporation of the first step (A), ‘mapping the city’s natural, cultural and human resources’, within the policy of the World Heritage City of Edinburgh. For this purpose a recently (2013) developed assessment framework by Veldpaus and Pereira Roders was used. The framework is based on the HUL approach and the evolution of concepts in international standard setting documents (1963-2011) leading up to the HUL. Using the framework, Edinburgh’s heritage policies were assessed, revealing the state of resource mapping in relation to the HUL recommendation. The results will add to the discussion whether the current policies in Edinburgh are accurate and detailed enough to manage their World Heritage property

Outstanding universal value vs zoning regulations : Willemstad as case-study

Even though World Heritage cities are of global importance, the management of World Heritage is often the responsibility of local authorities. The Operational Guidelines of UNESCO cover a great part of the management process for these properties of Outstanding Universal Value, but leave out how they should be managed on national and local levels. This article aims to contribute to the enhancement of the currently implemented management practices for the World Heritage city of Willemstad, Curaçao. The documents produced during and after the process of nomination of Willemstad have been surveyed in search for the justifications on its Outstanding Universal Value. This paper aims to demonstrate that the management of a World Heritage City can be fostered by making use of the information compiled in the official documents prepared for the nomination and, if applicable, during the protection process