Historical Centre of the City of Arequipa

• Deliberate destruction of heritage (deliberate demolition of historic buildings)
• Ground transport infrastructure
• Planned and ongoing development projects
• Management systems/ management plan (lack of a Risk Preparedness Plan)
• Lack of management plan (issue resolved)
• Housing -(uncontrolled urban development)

On 16 December 2019, the State Party submitted a report on the state of conservation, which is available at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1016/documents/. The report provides information on the implementation of the recommendations of the 2014 joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission, as endorsed by the Committee at its previous sessions, and reports the following:

• The Master Plan of the Historic Centre of Arequipa and Buffer Zone was updated for the period 2019-2029 and approved by the Ministry of Culture. Presently, a public consultation process is underway and, once concluded, the Master Plan will be approved by the Municipal Council. This is expected during the first quarter of 2020. The Master Plan is fully articulated with the Risk Management Plan approved in 2015;
• The revision of the boundaries of the property and its buffer zone is foreseen in the Master Plan. Once this Plan is approved, the submission of a minor boundary modification, in accordance with paragraphs 163-164 of the Operational Guidelines, will be formalized;
• An articulated and coordinated management structure is proposed in Articles 128 to 131 of the regulations of the proposed Master Plan. This includes a management authority (the Superintendencia del Centro Historico) composed of representatives of the Ministry of Culture, district municipalities, the college of architects, the chamber of commerce and industry, universities of Arequipa, and the Director (Gerente) of the Historical Centre and Monumental Zone;
• Regarding the Via Troncal Interconectadora, the Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) of the project proposed mitigation measures in 17 sectors, while the Decentralised Directorate of Culture will propose modifications to infrastructural components of the road to minimize impact on agricultural protection areas within and outside of the buffer zone;
• In the Master Plan for the Historical Centre and Monumental Zone 2017-2027 (PlaMCha), specific sectors along the River Chilina are designated as Agricultural Cultural Landscapes. In addition, the Provincial Municipality of Arequipa has initiated the preparation of a Specific Plan of the Urban Basin of the Chilina River to regulate land use in order to preserve the landscape, and ecological and cultural characteristics. A Specific Plan for Las Rocas de Chilina Ecological Park has been proposed, but still needs to be coordinated with the Charcani VII Energy Project. Furthermore, the Ministry of Culture has delimited three other areas of the Chilina River valley as archaeological landscapes: the Lari Lari Sectors 1, 2 and 3. The formal declaration as Cultural Heritage of the Nation is pending. The recent recognition of Arequipa as a UNESCO “Creative City” in gastronomy may support agricultural activities in the city’s vicinity as part of its cultural identity;
• A number of conservation activities were undertaken for the Historic Centre of Arequipa, in addition to initiatives for strengthening heritage awareness among local communities.

It is noted that over the past years, considerable progress has been made in the implementation of the recommendations of the 2014 mission in the following seven areas:

• The State Party has addressed recommendations regarding the boundaries of the property and the extended buffer zone, the management of the property and the Master Plan 2019-2029. Urban pressure on the river valley is addressed but the active promotion of agricultural activity remains to be introduced;
• The Risk Management Plan was approved in 2015 and forms the basis for the land uses and urban parameters as defined in the Master Plan. Coordination between the plans has thus been achieved;
• The Metropolitan Development Plan 2016-2025 defined the monumental zone as an area of special regulations. The Master Plan addresses this requirement and, together with other planning instruments and protective measures, also ensures the protection of the agricultural terraced landscapes;
• The HIA of the Chilina Bridge and the Via Truncal Interconectadora project, completed in 2017, concluded that there will be a minimal impact on the property and medium impact on the proposed buffer zone. The HIA proposed mitigation measures before, during and after the construction of the road. It is recommended that the Committee request the State Party to assess the level of implementation of these measures;
• Since the state of conservation report of 2016, the State Party has not reported any further on the project of a monorail mass transportation system, and it may be expected that this project will not be pursued any further.

The approval of the Master Plan by the Ministry of Culture, and the additional protective measures for agricultural landscape areas that will be included in the revised buffer zone, can be considered major achievements in the strengthening of the protection and management of the property. It is recommended that the Committee encourage the State Party to conclude the approval process of the Master Plan urgently so that its implementation can start immediately, and to urge the State Party to conclude the implementation of the remaining recommendations of the 2014 mission as soon as possible.

It is also recommended that the Committee request the State Party to inform the Committee if any progress has been made regarding the pedestrian circulation project around the Plaza Major and Salaverry-Malecon Viaduct that was subject to an ICOMOS technical review in 2017.

Finally, it is recommended that the Committee also encourage the State Party to continue its efforts of awareness raising among local communities to involve them in the conservation initiatives at the property.