Recommendation On The HUL Approach

INTRODUCTION

In 2011, UNESCO Member States adopted the Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL Approach) as part of a shared effort to holistically integrate heritage conservation and sustainable development of historic urban landscapes. The HUL Approach perceives cities as both carriers of collective memory, meaning, architectural and artistic achievements, and also as dynamic organisms that continuously evolve (Bandarin & van Oers, 2012). Recognizing heritage as a resource to the city and its communities, both intangible and tangible components, the HUL approach is aiming to support the perception of heritage as a driving force for economic, environmental, social and cultural improvements to cities (WHC, 2013). The HUL Approach also calls upon the inputs of various actors from the public, private, national and international sectors to create or enhance existing management tools and regulation systems that deal with communities, urban planning and heritage conservation techniques and finances (Bandarin & van Oers, 2012).

Since 2011, the predominant discussions on the HUL Approach have involved different countries such as Australia, Brazil, China and the United Kingdom (Pereira Roders & van Oers, 2014). Pioneer cities have also taken steps in studying its possible implementation such as Rio de Janeiro, Ballarat, Beirut and Zanzibar (Pereira Roders & van Oers, 2014), while case studies in Edinburgh (Bennick et al., 2014), Amsterdam (Bruin et al., 2013), Liverpool (Rodwell, 2008) and Naples (De Rosa and Di Palma, 2013) have also taken place. As a broader view, projects funded by the European Union such as Heritage as Opportunity – HerO (URBACT, 2011) and the Management of Cultural Heritage in the Central European Ar...

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...are several on-going UNESCO programmes such as the Man and Biosphere Programme, World Heritage Forests Programme and the World Heritage Programme for Small Island Developing States, which the HUL Approach can tap into. Collaborative research from cultural, social and natural science experts involved in these efforts can help tie different programmes together to provide sustainable solutions for historic urban landscapes. Case studies of the HUL Approach in a small island state like Maldives (with population density of 1,030 per square kilometer) can test how the Mauritius Strategy and the HUL Approach can be used to create new solutions for the interlinked problem of urban growth, heritage management and natural resource management amidst climate change. Non-traditional collaborations will create new knowledge pathways in solving urban challenges of the future.