Cities and heritage meeting: “Changing Cities and Heritage Management: New Players? New Practices?”

The city of Lyon (France) and the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) will host a meeting on World Heritage cities and historic cities on 22-24 May 2013, for the 15^th anniversary celebration of the inscription of the Historic Site of Lyons on the World Heritage List and the development of a management plan for this site.

This meeting is organized by the city of Lyon (France) and the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) and their partners: UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre, in the framework of the France Unesco cooperation agreement, Council of Europe, the Directorate of Democratic Governance, Culture and Diversity, and the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, ICOMOS French Committee and the International Committee on Historical Towns and villages (CIVVIH) , Getty Conservation Institute, Association of French World Heritage, the French national association of towns and regions of art and history and towns with protected areas.

This meeting builds on the “Historical Cities in Development: Keys for Understanding and Taking Action” -- a project collecting case studies on conservation and management of historic cities, which documented city expertise in urban development by highlighting heritage-focused urban projects (https://whc.unesco.org/en/activities/634/ and  http://www.ovpm.org  for the final report).

This meeting aims to continue the dynamics, methodology and analyses implemented through the compilation of case studies:

• The preservation and enhancement of heritage through case studies dealing with the reconversion of monuments or sites involving new uses;
• The role of local inhabitants through case studies on the sharing of heritage values, social appropriation or governance, which address issues of good citizenship.
• The strategy of local authorities through case studies dealing with urban projects for which the question is: how to implement a global development scheme?

The meeting is addressed primarily to mayors and elected officials as well as managing bodies of World Heritage cities and historic towns, with a focus on the European region.

The Cities and Heritage Meeting aims to contribute to the debate on operating methods which promote an interaction between values and heritage, urban projects and the expectations of local residents.

The goal is to identify concrete initiatives, such as an exchange and cooperation program about new players and new practices.

For more information and online registration: http://www.lyon.fr/evenement/rencontre/cities-and-heritage-meeting.html