Atlas World Heritage: sharing knowledge and skills amongst European World Heritage cities

About Florence, Italy

Florence is the capital city of the Tuscany region. The World Heritage property “Historic Centre of Florence” was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1982, under criteria (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) and (vi). Built on the site of an Etruscan settlement, Florence, the symbol of the Renaissance, rose to economic and cultural pre-eminence under the Medici in the 15th and 16th centuries. Its 600 years of extraordinary artistic activity can be seen above all in the 13th-century cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore), the Church of Santa Croce, the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace, the work of great masters such as Giotto, Brunelleschi, Botticelli and Michelangelo.

About Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in North-western Spain, target of one of the main religious pilgrimages of the Middle Ages from the 9th century onwards. In 1985, Santiago de Compostela (Old Town) was designated a UNESCO World Heritage property under criteria (i), (ii) and (vi). The Old Town includes Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque buildings, including the tomb of St James and the cathedral, which contains the remarkable Pórtico de la Gloria.

About Edinburgh, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Edinburgh is the historic capital city of Scotland. The “Old and New Towns of Edinburgh” were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1995 under criteria (ii) and (iv). The site has two distinct areas: the Old Town, dominated by a medieval fortress; and the neoclassical New Town, whose development from the 18th century onwards had a far-reaching influence on European urban planning. The harmonious juxtaposition of these two contrasting historic areas gives the city its unique character.

About Oporto, Portugal

Oporto is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. In 1996, the “Historic Centre of Oporto, Luiz Bridge and Monastery of Serra do Pilar” were inscribed on the World Heritage List under criterion (iv). Oporto is an outstanding urban landscape with a 2,000-year history. Its continuous growth can be seen in the many and varied monuments, from the cathedral with its Romanesque choir, to the neoclassical Stock Exchange and the typically Portuguese Manueline-style Church of Santa Clara.

About Bordeaux, France

Bordeaux is a port city on the river Garonne in South-Western France. Capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, it is home to the World Heritage property “Bordeaux, Port of the Moon”, inscribed in 2007 under criteria (ii) and (iv). This inhabited historic city, an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble, was created in the age of the Enlightenment. It is recognised for its historic role as a place of exchange of cultural values over more than 2,000 years. Urban plans and architectural ensembles of the early 18th century onwards place the city as an outstanding example of innovative classical and neoclassical trends and give it an exceptional urban and architectural unity and coherence.

Atlas World Heritage: sharing knowledge and skills amongst European World Heritage cities

In the context of the Atlas World Heritage project, a comparative study analyses the land use patterns in five World Heritage cities in the European region. The study uses open source and publicly available data to generate visual materials that can assist in the management of the World Heritage properties and in the identification of common challenges, opportunities and possible strategies.

About Atlas World Heritage

Atlas World Heritage: Heritage in the Atlantic Area (Atlas.WH) is a collaboration project between five European World Heritage cities. Since 2017, it has aimed to bring together different World Heritage sites to promote collective thinking and exchange of ideas about common topics, such as liveability, community engagement and World Heritage management frameworks. It was funded by the INTERREG Atlantic Area Programme by the European Regional Development Fund.

Each of the five cities focused on a particular topic:

• The city of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, carried out surveys and identified common targets for all cities. The surveys aimed to understand the characteristics of each World Heritage site and identify some of the common challenges faced by each of the city partners in the management of the properties.
• The city of Florence, Italy, developed the publication “World Heritage Site experiences in managing Governance, Population and Tourism issues: Thematic Study on Common Challenges”. The publication, developed with the Heritage Research Lab at the University of Florence (HeRe Lab), analysed and collected good practices addressing critical issues faced by heritage sites, such as governance, tourism and population needs.
• The city of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, designed a common programme of engagement activities, including for children, local professionals and knowledge sharing at both national and international levels. These activities could be adapted to each site.
• The city of Oporto, Portugal, together with the University of Oporto, developed a collective methodology for World Heritage site management. The methodology aimed to create a framework that allows all partners to address their common challenges through shared strategies and initiatives and develop sustainable development plans.
• The city of Bordeaux, France, carried out a comparative study on land use for each municipality and in each listed site and its buffer zone. The study was carried out using GIS tools based on open data.

Mind the map

As part of the Atlas WH project, the Agence d’Urbanisme Bordeaux Aquitaine and Bordeaux Metropole collected, organised and mapped urban data from the five different cities, using a common methodology that allowed for their comparison and analysis.

The urban data have been organised and mapped as follows:

1. Reference perimeters;
2. Identity city cards;
3. Land occupation analysis at municipal scale (Urban fabric, Agriculture and forest, Economic activities, Leisure spaces, Flow spaces);
4. Land occupation analysis (World Heritage property and buffer zone).

Given that urban data is collected using different methodologies in each country, the data was sourced from international databases, including The Urban Atlas (Copernicus), Atlas World Heritage and Open Street Map (OSM). These sources, although not always completely accurate, allowed the team to analyse and compare different land uses in a consistent manner.

The use of these databases highlighted the potential applications of shared databases of numerical data for urban management. It has also enabled the creation of links between European and international initiatives, creating an incentive to open a dialogue between the Atlas WH partners and the Copernicus project.

The maps will be used to improve the management and governance systems in the five partner cities. For instance, the maps have revealed sometime conflicting relationships between the boundaries of local administrations and of territorial elements, identifying instances in which this relationship was not adapted to the management needs

Some limitations have been identified, especially regarding the information on human activities and territorial conditions. To overcome these and the other challenges emerged during the project implementation, studies were made by all partners to refine the work methodology.

By working together amongst different World Heritage cities, the Atlas World Heritage project aims to build a common methodology and shared knowledge regarding common challenges and opportunities. At the same time, the project acts as an umbrella for smaller pilot projects, such as “Mind the map”, which implemented this collaborative approach to the mapping of urban elements and land uses.

Excerpt of the mapping studies © AtlaS-WH, Bordeaux Aquitaine, Bordeaux Metropole, A'urba - agence d'urbanisme. See the full documentation here.

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Source: Ms Sofia Alves, DPMGC – Municipality of Oporto, 2021.