{"id":4409,"date":"2018-12-10T15:26:45","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T07:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.ift.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/?p=4409"},"modified":"2018-12-10T15:27:49","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T07:27:49","slug":"ift-hosts-international-course-on-world-heritage-site-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/ift-hosts-international-course-on-world-heritage-site-management\/","title":{"rendered":"IFT hosts international course on World Heritage site management"},"content":{"rendered":"\u4e2d\u6587\u6458\u8981 \/ Summary in Chinese<\/span>\n

IFT hosted in October an international course on management and monitoring of sites inscribed on UNESCO\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

The programme \u2013 held from 8 to 19 October \u2013 was organised by the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, and Macao\u2019s Cultural Affairs Bureau. IFT was one of the co-organisers, with the course taking place at IFT\u2019s Taipa Campus.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 including via Macao\u2019s expanding entertainment sector \u2013 and preservation and safeguarding of the city\u2019s heritage.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen 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,\u201d says Dr. Erkan.<\/p>\n

During the course, the scholar \u2013 who is also a Senior Consultant to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre \u2013 made a number of references to the \u201cUNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape\u201d. 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.<\/p>\n

An \u201cintegrated urban management methodology\u201d brings together the \u201cunderstanding of preservation of cultural heritage and urban development,\u201d says Dr. Erkan. \u201cIt tells us to look into a wider possibility of urban context, value and ability of a city,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt is rooted in a balanced and sustainable relationship between the urban and natural environment, between the needs of present and future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

She further notes regarding Macao, \u201cmost people only look at the colonial Portuguese heritage. But the city has a lot more layers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Intangible heritage such as art and craftsmanship \u2013 but also layers such as overall identity of place and geomorphology, and even the engineering of a city\u2019s utilities such as its water supply system \u2013 can be factors in the overall value of a heritage property.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 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,\u201d says Dr. Erkan. \u201cThe location of a castle serves as a natural layer of protection\u201d for the people that built it, against their enemies.<\/p>\n

Unifying stakeholders<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr. Joseph King, Director of the Sites Unit at ICCROM \u2013 the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property \u2013 agrees with the need for an integrated approach to heritage management. He was also one of the speakers featured on the training course.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. King adds: \u201cWhen developing a management system, don\u2019t just look at the heritage property, but [look] to develop a system that takes into account its larger context.\u201d<\/p>\n

This implies the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders in the field of safeguarding heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven within the community,\u201d he continues, “you need to make sure everyone, including the residents, shop owners and business people, understand the importance \u2013 and are willing to participate one way or another \u2013 in the protection of [heritage] values.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInvolving the local community is never easy but it is the only way to ensure success,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 the Anishinaabeg \u2013 for some 6,000 years. The site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List earlier this year for its cultural and natural significance.<\/p>\n

At the core of Anishinaabeg cultural tradition is Ji-ganawendamang Gidakiiminaan, which means \u201ckeeping the lands\u201d. 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d Mr. King says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IFT hosted in October an international course on management and monitoring of sites inscribed on UNESCO\u2019s World Heritage List. The scheme attracted more than 20 government officials, experts and private-sector […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":4408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,136],"tags":[921,340,925,919,926,302,924,923,920,922],"class_list":["post-4409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-continuing-education","category-main_headline","tag-chinese-academy-of-cultural-heritage","tag-cultural-affairs-bureau","tag-intangible-heritage","tag-international-course","tag-joseph-king","tag-unesco","tag-unesco-recommendation-on-the-historic-urban-landscape","tag-unesco-world-heritage-centre","tag-world-heritage","tag-yonca-erkan"],"views":1186,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4409"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4413,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4409\/revisions\/4413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}