Experts: Conserve historic urban environments
Francesco Bandarin, director, World Heritage Centre of UNESCO.
The Chandigarh administration in collaboration with UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre and the Archaeological Survey of India began a four-day workshop on “Management of Historic Urban Landscapes of the 20th Century” at the CII here today. The MC mayor was the chief guest.
The workshop is supported by the Netherlands-Funds-in Trust, France-UNESCO Cooperation and the CII.
Despite guidelines for conservation and management of monuments, archaeological sites, natural sites and cultural landscapes, the challenges of management of historic urban environments, especially those of the 20th century, are still not fully understood.
The technical session started with a welcome speech by Rajneesh Wattas, principal, Chandigarh College of Architecture, who emphasised on the contribution of Le Corbusier to City Beautiful.
Gilles Ragot talked about the history of nomination of India on the World Heritage List. He said as of now, a total of 851 sites were listed, among these 660 cultural and 166 natural. The 20th century sites could be used for comparative analysis of Le Corbusier’s works.
Francesco Bandarin, director, World Heritage Centre of UNESCO, talked of ways and the need to promote modern heritage.
The workshop will address the challenges in conservation of historic urban environments, in particular the World Heritage Cities of the 20th century, exchange ideas and visions, explore mutually satisfying solutions for conservation and development, and reach a consensus among stakeholders, resulting in an agreement on principles and guidelines for regulation and management.