Conference agenda

14.00-17.00: 

Two parallel training sessions on:

Training session 1: Historic Urban Landscape 

Training session 2: Historic Landscape Characterization

 Aim and target groups: The training sessions are targeting Master’s students, early stage PhD students and young professionals. They concern two key methods developed by Heriland scholars, UNESCO’s Historic Landscape approach and Historic Landscape Characterization. The aims of the sessions are to: (i) expand the network of trainees beyond the Heriland PhDs; (ii) apply the didactic principles developed in Heriland and share some of the major outcomes of our research strategies; (iii) identify with the participants how the training connects with and brings to the next level their previous education and research and professional experience; (iv) enthusiase the participants for further training in heritage planning.

Number of participants: max. 30 per session

Format: The sessions have a strong hands-on character, i.e. they take the form of an interactive workshop with assignments rather than lecture style.

Training session 1: Unesco Historic Urban Landscape approach (HUL)

Coordination: Komal Potdar, Ana Pereira Roders, Mike Turner,

HUL offers a tool to integrate policies and practices of conservation of the built environment into the wider goals of urban development. Crucial to HUL is that it undertakes comprehensive surveys and mapping of a city’s natural, cultural and human resources, in respect of the inherited values and traditions of different cultural contexts and using participatory planning and stakeholder consultations. Moreover, it suggests mechanisms for the coordination of the various activities between different actors, both public and private. In this workshop participants will be trained in the key aspects of HUL.

Training session 2: Historic Landscape Characterization

Coordination: Sam Turner, Graham Fairclough

Historic landscape characterisation (HLC) is a method of identification and interpretation of the varying historic character within an area that looks beyond individual heritage assets; it brigades understanding of the whole landscape and townscape into repeating HLC Types. It reveals the patterns and connections within a landscape, spatially and through time. It also enables consideration of inter-relationships between places, and it provides a framework for the recording and evaluation of the views and perceptions of people, such as their experiences and memories. In this workshop participants will be trained in the key aspects of HLC

09.30-12.30:

Two parallel training sessions on:

Training session 1: Historic Urban Landscape approach

Training session 2: Historic Landscape Characterization

Aim and target groups: The training sessions are targetting Master’s students, early stage PhD students and young professionals. They concern two key methods developed by Heriland scholars, UNESCO’s Historic Landscape approach and Historic Landscape Characterization. The aims of the sessions are to: (i) expand the network of trainees beyond the Heriland PhDs; (ii) apply the didactic principles developed in Heriland and share some of the major outcomes of our research strategies; (iii) identify with the participants how the training connects with and brings to the next level their previous education and research and professional experience; (iv) enthusiase the participants for further training in heritage planning.

Number of participants: max. 30 per session

Format: The sessions have a strong hands-on character, i.e. they take the form of an interactive workshop with assignments rather than lecture style.

Training session 1: Unesco Historic Urban Landscape approach (HUL)

Coordination: Komal Potdar, Ana Pereira Roders, Mike Turner,

HUL offers a tool to integrate policies and practices of conservation of the built environment into the wider goals of urban development. Crucial to HUL is that it undertakes comprehensive surveys and mapping of a city’s natural, cultural and human resources, in respect of the inherited values and traditions of different cultural contexts and using participatory planning and stakeholder consultations. Moreover, it suggests mechanisms for the coordination of the various activities between different actors, both public and private. In this workshop participants will be trained in the key aspects of HUL.

Training session 2: Historic Landscape Characterization

Coordination: Sam Turner, Graham Fairclough

Historic landscape characterisation (HLC) is a method of identification and interpretation of the varying historic character within an area that looks beyond individual heritage assets; it brigades understanding of the whole landscape and townscape into repeating HLC Types. It reveals the patterns and connections within a landscape, spatially and through time. It also enables consideration of inter-relationships between places, and it provides a framework for the recording and evaluation of the views and perceptions of people, such as their experiences and memories. In this workshop participants will be trained in the key aspects of HLC.

Aim and target groups: The Heriland project approaches heritage in relation to the above societal challenges. To that aim it has theorized and developed design and planning strategies and tools. In the workshops we wish to compare these with strategies and tools current in the field, to identify their societal impact, strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, we are pleased to invite to the workshops colleagues, researchers, professional practitioners, policy makers, funding agencies and master and PhD students working on heritage and the above challenges. Each workshop will concentrate on one of the above challenges.

Number of participants: max. 30 per workshop

Format: each workshop has plenary sessions as well as smaller group sessions; interaction is key in both. Participants are facilitated in sharing their strategies, tools, experiences and ideas for the future. The workshops are moderated by the Heriland PhD researchers and their societal partners. The outcomes will be synthesised in order to contribute to a conference White Paper.

Workshop 1: The Spatial Turn

Convenors: Marielna Mela, Rebecca Staats, Rusudan Mirzikashvili, Komal Potdar

Spatial thinking has pervaded all sectors of society and also heritage management; heritage is now commonly approached through the lens of landscapes, perceived as spatial and temporal palimpsests of memories and meanings, socially constituted and continuously redefined and -designed. In the planning of these landscapes for the future, those palimpsests are often considered building blocks and sources of inspiration, with which to guarantee place making, community cohesion and economic exploitation. This workshop will discuss and compare different theoretical, methodological and operational approaches in doing so.

 Workshop 2: Democratization

Convenors: Alana Castro de Azevedo, Nan Bai, Tinatin Meparishvili, Maciej Swiderski

Although heritage is often perceived as a domain of experts, it is in reality, like landscape, key to the daily lives of all citizens. Increasingly, as in nearly all sectors of society, citizens demand a voice in the definition and management of heritage, and in the development of planning alternatives and design solutions. Government agencies, heritage professionals and spatial planners are reaching out to the public, aiming to increase inclusiveness and co-creation, and heritage tourism and recreation is accessible to larger sections of society than ever. In this workshop we will discuss and compare concepts, tools and procedures for democratization in the definition, management and planning of heritage.

 Workshop 3: Shifting demographies and contested identities

Convenors: Sophia Arbara, Ana Jayone Yarza Pérez, Farnaz Faraji, Moses Katontoka

People are on the move in almost all parts of the world on a possibly unprecedented scale, whether in refugee crises or through long-term urbanization processes. The social, cultural and economic transformations that go with such migrations are no less far reaching than the spatial ones. Think of the emergence of urban multicultural melting pots or, on the other hand, of rural depression (and in some places, of post-industrial urban abandonment). The making or preservation of heritage is intimately linked to these transformations, as it is about creating, safeguarding or contesting identities and communities, whether urban or rural. This workshop discusses and compares the Heriland outcomes with best practices and success factors from the heritage field

Workshop 4: Changing Environments

Convenors: Anna Tonk, Marta Ducci, Maitri Dore.

UNESCO identifies changes to the environment as one of the major challenges for the future. This certainly goes for heritage landscapes. Climate change, in particular global warming, will have pervasive consequences for all landscapes alike. Also, landscapes will undergo thorough transformations with increasing urbanization and de-industrialization, impacting urban and rural geographies alike, from historic city centres to industrial plants and agricultural and pastoral land use patterns. Adaptation to these changes through heritage planning is vital. In this workshop attention is focused on the role of heritage in environmental adaptation, in particular with regard to urban-rural interactions and the future of post-industrial landscapes.

15.30-17.30: networking session 

17.30-19.00: two key-note lectures and debate 

19.00-21.00: drinks and food

09.00: welcome and opening session

9;30-10.15: key note lecture

10.30-12.00: three parallel sessions on agenda setting for heritage planning: (1) training; (2) research; (3) policy

Aim and target groups: The aim of these round tables is to enhance the impact of Heriland by exchanging our ideas about future agendas with those of peers in academia, society and funding agencies. Thus we wish to establish a common agenda, on: (i) how university and post academic training should be organized, so as to build a new generation of heritage planners according to Heriland lines? (ii) what lacunae in our knowledge still need thorough investigation and along which lines? (iii) how can/should local, national and European policies be adapted to conform to the latest standards in heritage planning?

Number of participants: max. 25 per round table

Format: round table discussions, moderated by Heriland senior scholars. The outcomes will be integrated into the conference White Paper

Round table 1: setting the agenda in training

Convenors: Linde Egberts, Niels van Manen

The overriding aim of HERILAND is to train a new generation of heritage professionals and academics, who can devise strategies for regenerating heritage and landscape, fostering social inclusiveness and creating sustainable landscapes. To that aim HERILAND set out to define new training standards, which transcend the still strongly institutionalised boundaries between countries and academic disciplines; with an emphasis on transdisciplinary concepts, methods and tools, grounded in theoretical reflection  and tested in practice. In this round table, we wish to refine these training standards by discussing them with colleagues in the field.

Round table 2: setting the agenda in research

Convenors: Ola Wetterberg, Gert-Jan Burgers

In the face of great social challenges, the cultural heritage sector is often considered an obstacle to innovation. Yet, research indicates that when the sector opens up its boundaries and integrates landscape management and spatial planning, heritage can become a positive driver, a stimulus for social inclusiveness and an anchor for sustainability. With this new vision, HERILAND has set up a transdisciplinary research framework addressing societal, ethical and spatial questions, e.g. on democratization, changing environments, shifting demographies and contested identities.  In this round table we explicitly wish to evaluate future research lines together with colleagues in the field.

Round table 3: setting the agenda in policy

Convenors: Graham Fairclough, Els Verbakel

In Europe, the outlines of the new heritage vision mentioned above, have emerged during the last two decades, partly codified by the Council of Europe in 2005 with the Faro Convention ‘on the value of heritage for society’, prefigured by the European Landscape Convention in 2000. World-wide, the new paradigm is promoted through the UNESCO Recommendations on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL). Yet, national policy arrangements differ notoriously and many are still object-centred and geared towards protection against social and spatial dynamics. In this round table, we aim to evaluate how the new vision can be translated into policy at international, national and local levels.

12.15-13.00: closing debate: plenary discussion of the outcomes of the parallel sessions 

13.00-14.00: lunch

15.00-18.00: excursion

Excursion/ Social event

We will visit a heritage planning site in Amsterdam. It will be a short commute from the conference venue. A good opportunity to learn about heritage planning practices in The Netherlands and, in the process, to socialise and network with other conference participants.