Urban Heritage Development

Johan J. Swart*, Kevin Claus*, Loes Veldpaus**, Ana Pereira Roders**

To explore the future agenda for the integration of cultural heritage management and regional and urban development, this paper will focus on analysing methods for a holistic approach towards heritage. The main question is how the crucial joining of forces of spatial, narrative and operative lines for both assessment and development can be established seen from the larger perspective of the urban area or region. Heritage managementis going through a process of change, from focusing on built heritage assets, to a more holistic – all-inclusive – approach. (Jokilehto, J 1998; Fairclough, G 2008) This process of change calls for further development of research methods and management tools. (e.g. Chapuis, M. 2009; Pereira Roders, A.R. 2010)This paper contributes to a definition of search areas to set up a framework of assessing heritagein a holistic way. An all-inclusive appraisal of heritage is sought in the physical enlargement of the search area, but also in the sensitive study of place identity, and the characterization of placebytangible and intangible, intrinsic and extrinsic, and global and localvalues and uses. Such a characterization could both underlie the inventory and assessment of heritage,as well as it could be a catalyst for future plans. The development of a strategy for the futureurban development and management of a place involves the construction of a persuasive planning narrative embedded in the landscape, the spatial and physical elements; and linked with a process of value ascription in the local community. Successfulness is assumed to correlate with the fitting within existing landscape, narratives, and communities.(Van Assche, K. 2011) The three lines, spatial, narrative and operative, will be explored by projects of urban development in the case of the UNESCO World Heritage site Amsterdam Canal Ring Area.

Keywords: Urban development; Cultural heritage; Heritage management; Holistic heritage approach; spatial narrative; place identity; Amsterdam Canal Ring Area; World Heritage

*Bureau MonumentenArcheologie Amsterdam / Amsterdam World Heritage Bureau

** Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) / Department of the Built Environment

contact :

Assche, Kristof Van, andMing C. Lo, 2011. Planning, preservation and place branding: a tale of sharing assets and narratives, Journal of Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 7 (2), 117-126.

Chapuis, M. ed. (2009) Preserving ourheritage, improvingour environment Volume IICulturalheritageresearch: FP5, FP6 andrelatedprojects. Directorate-General for ResearchEnvironment, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

Fairclough, G New heritage, an introductory essay, in Fairclough, G et al., eds. (2008) The Heritage Reader. London ;New York: Routledge,

Jokilehto, J. (1998) International Trends in Historic Preservation: From Ancient Monuments to Living Cultures APT Bulletin Vol. 29, No. 3/4, Thirtieth-Anniversary Issue

Pereira Roders, A.R. and Ron van Oers (2010) Outstanding Universal Value, World Heritage cities and Sustainability: Surveying the relationship between Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) assessment practices and the sustainable development of World Heritage (WH) Cities, Joint research program UNESCO & TU/e