urbanconservationisanimportantpartofmodernity-accueil.docVIP

A New International Instrument: the proposed UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) Preliminary Report INTRODUCTION Urban conservation is an important part of modern heritage policies. For at least half a century, historic cities have acquired an incomparable status in modern culture and in modern life; a status defined by the quality of the architectural and physical environment, by the persistence of the sense of place, and by the concentration of the historic and artistic events that form the basis for the identity of a people. Last but not least, they have become the icons of global cultural tourism and coveted places for the enjoyment of a different lifestyle and for cultural experiences for millions of people. But can we say that conservators have the tools they need to ensure the long term protection of the urban historic values? Unfortunately, if we consider the economic and environmental trends, we can easily see new threats emerging for urban historic conservation, with a lack of adequate tools to cope with them. As the economic and social role of the historic city changes with time, as its own uses and functions are less and less decided by its own inhabitants, but rather by global forces such as the tourism or real estate industries, the meaning of urban conservation changes and needs to be reassessed. The first decade of the XXIst century has already shown which are the emerging challenges for urban historic conservation: global population growth and migrations, the explosion of domestic and international tourism, the growing demand for specific historic “packages” and the increasing pressures for land conversion inside and –most of all– outside the historic precincts. While many countries have been able in the past decades to develop adequate legislation and regulations for the protection of urban historic areas, the sustainability of public and private efforts towards conservation is far from being demonstrated, in