Celebrating our Urban Heritage

Seven years ago Marc Weiss, former college professor and official in the Clinton adminstration, founded Global Urban Development (GUD). The organization describes itself as a worldwide network of expert thinkers and practioners. The accomplishments of GUD over this relatively short period are impressive.

GUD has a Board of Directors composed of men and women from 25 countries as well as a 200 member Advisory Board where no less than 50 countries are represented. Outside of the United Nations structure, there can't be many international NGOs with this broad a base geographically.

The GUD network is organized around seven major issue areas: Building Gender Equality in Urban Life, Treating People and Community as Assets, Facing the Environmental Challenge, Global Urban Development, Improving Public Health, Metropolitan Economic Strategy, and Celebrating Our Urban Heritage.

This last committee I am most pleased to co-chair with Luigi Fusco Girard of the University of Naples and Belinda Yuen of the National University of Singapore. Through these associations I have been fortunate to have participated in events at both of those institutions in the last few years.

One of the products of GUD is Global Urban Development Magazine, an online magazine that is published periodically. Just out is the most recent special issue which focuses on Urban Heritage. Included are articles on successful heritage strategies in Tunisia, Spain, Laos, the US, Russia, China, Lithuania, Morroco and projects focused on the aboriginal peoples of Australia and New Zealand.

There are innovative programs taking place in heritage conservation around the world, and Global Urban Development has spotlighted several worthy of celebration.

Historic Preservation and America in the World - Part 3

In Part 1 and Part 2 of Historic Preservation and America in the World, I tried to lay out twenty reasons why historic preservation ought to be a key component of US foreign policy.

In this last entry in the series are 10 ways the US government could do that. Others, of course, have more, different, and perhaps better ideas. But maybe these could be a starting point.

1. Follow-up services for visitors. Eight or ten times a year the State Department funds a multi-city tour for a visiting delegation whose primary interest is cultural heritage. Washington is nearly always on the travel itinerary and these groups are typically given briefings by US/ICOMOS, the National Park Service, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the National Trust and others. Every indication is that the trips and the information received is appreciated and welcomed by the participants. In almost every instance members of the delegations will spontaneously say, "We could certainly use some on-site assistance on ... " Sometimes the need is on the policy side, sometimes education, sometimes legal framework, sometimes other issues. But there is no follow up. The State Department should fund through US/ICOMOS, the National Trust or other entities follow-up services for visitors composed of teams of expertise in the specific areas that were defined by the visitors.

2. Conference scholarships. American preservationists have abundant opportunities to learn. Each year the National Trust, the Association for Preservation Technology, US/ICOMOS, the National Main Street Center and other organizations hold conferences, all of which are rich with educational sessions. Each year there are perhaps a dozen other preservation related national conferences on specific subjects. Through embassies, funds should be made available to pay for travel expenses and registrations for heritage conservationists from other countries to attend these conferences.


Heritage training, Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia

3. Short-course training. Related to #2 is the range of short courses for preservation professionals and advocates annually in the US. Included are courses put on by the National Preservation Institute, the National Park Service, the National Trust and others. In most parts of the world this type of training and information is simply not available. Again the funding could come through US Embassies, but reaching potential international participants could be done through efforts of ICOMOS, the International National Trust Organization (INTO) and other cross-border preservation organizations.

4. Development banks. Three items are high on the agenda of nearly all of the international and regional development institutions such as the World Bank, the Inter American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and others. Those items are: urban development, small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), and sustainable economic development. The United States should use its influence within those institutions to make the protection and reuse of recipient countries' historic resources as a central element in addressing those three issues.

5. Department of Interior international office. As the Federal agency most responsible for the implementation of historic preservation policy in the United States, the Department of the Interior as developed great expertise in a wide range of heritage conservation activities. The International Office within the Department of Interior should be fully funded and staffed in order to provide technical assistance internationally to countries in need of specialized expertise.

6. Federal agency expertise. Similarly other Federal agencies have in-house expertise in areas related to historic preservation. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense and others deal with issues where historic preservation is a vehicle, if not necessarily an end. This expertise could be provided to parallel departments in other countries. As an example, in 2003 then Secretary of HUD, Mel Martinez and his counterpart in the Spanish government hosted an exchange program in Spain involving experts from both countries in historic preservation. That effort was broadly deemed useful to both nations and similar activities should be undertaken regularly by other agencies.

Torzhok, Russia

7. Specific line item in foreign assistance. International aid programs at USAID and elsewhere should include historic preservation as a specifically targeted activity. What is often missed by donor agencies is that rarely is funding for historic preservation an end in itself. Rather there should be historic preservation funding where heritage buildings are the means to broader ends. These could include: job training, job creation, center city redevelopment, small business incubation, neighborhood stabilization, economic integration, affordable housing, education, and others. For example, instead of having a program that says, "We will build you a new school" have a program that says, "We will pay for the rehabilitation of a heritage building for a school." Thus more than one outcome results from a single expenditure.

8. Ambassador's Fund expansion. Although modest in total dollars, the Ambassador's Fund has been used by many US Embassies with great success and is held in high regard by local recipients. They very much view it as the type of modest support that demonstrates respect for the local culture by the US Government. This program should be expanded significantly.

9. Taking the lead on Habitat Agenda item IV C-8. There are many elements of the United National Habitat Agenda with which the US government – rightly or wrongly – has significant dissent. There is, however, a specific portion of that agenda (Section IV C-8) that deals specifically with the conservation and rehabilitation of the historical and cultural heritage. The United States should step forward and commit to be a major proponent and funder of that element of the Habitat Agenda.

10. Trade negotiations. For decades the United States has actively negotiated numerous international, multilateral, and bilateral trade agreements. In spite of the recent collapse of the Doha Round of negotiations, more trade pacts will no doubt be ratified in the future. Trade negotiations are inevitably complex and as a result often produce unintended consequences. Among those could very well be the challenge to programs encouraging historic preservation through direct financial assistance or investment incentives. These could be interpreted as a violation of free trade provisions. Every trade agreement, therefore, should spell out that no country's programs, the primary purpose of which is the preservation of heritage resources, will be interpreted as a violation of the given agreement. In some trade pacts, for example, it is spelled out that assistance to artists through the National Endowment for the Arts will not be considered a protectionist measure for a specific industry which might otherwise be considered a violation of the agreement. Language preserving the right of every country to have specialized programs for heritage conservation needs to be incorporated into every trade agreement.

Even if every one of the above were fully implemented, the total cost of the US taxpayers would be negligible relative to many of the expenditures currently being made to advance American interests internationally. Yet I firmly believe that the cost-benefit of such initiatives would be vastly superior to almost any current activity.

Finally, when was the last time that virtually every country in the world was on the same side of the same issue - India and Pakistan, Israel and the PLO, Africa and Europe, North America and South America? It was n the condemnation of the wanton destruction of the Buddhist statuary in Afghanistan by the Taliban - a historic preservation issue.

Conversely, in recent years perhaps the best example of the impact of symbolic healing was the restoration of the Old Bridge in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina funded by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the World Monuments Fund.

If there is one adjective that describes the impact of historic preservation it is that one - healing. Healing our cities, healing our neighborhoods, healing our downtowns, healing our small towns, healing our economies - all by healing our historic resources.

If historic preservation has proven to be such a healing tool in America, it needs to be a healing tool supported by America in the rest of the world.

UN Habitat - Goals and Actions for Heritage Conservation

Below are the Goals and Actions established by UN Habitat as they relate to heritage conservation. It's a good check list for all of us to see if we are addressing the issues that need our attention. The section and paragraph numbers are the same as in the original Habitat document.

The Habitat Agenda Goals and Principles, Commitments and the Global Plan of Action

8. Conservation and rehabilitation of the historical and cultural heritage

152. Historical places, objects and manifestations of cultural, scientific, symbolic, spiritual and religious value are important expressions of the culture, identity and religious beliefs of societies. Their role and importance, particularly in the light of the need for cultural identity and continuity in a rapidly changing world, need to be promoted. Buildings, spaces, places and landscapes charged with spiritual and religious value represent an important element of stable and humane social life and community pride.

Conservation, rehabilitation and culturally sensitive adaptive reuse of urban, rural and architectural heritage are also in accordance with the sustainable use of natural and human made resources. Access to culture and the cultural dimension of development is of the utmost importance and all people should be able to benefit from such access.

Actions

153. To promote historical and cultural continuity and to encourage broad civic participation in all kinds of cultural activities, Governments at the appropriate levels, including local authorities, should:

(a) Identify and document, whenever possible, the historical and cultural significance of areas, sites, landscapes, ecosystems, buildings and other objects and manifestations and establish conservation goals relevant to the cultural and spiritual development of society;

(b) Promote the awareness of such heritage in order to highlight its value and the need for its conservation and the financial viability of rehabilitation;

(c) Encourage and support local heritage and cultural institutions, associations and communities in their conservation and rehabilitation efforts and inculcate in children and youth an adequate sense of their heritage;

(d) Promote adequate financial and legal support for the effective protection of the cultural heritage;

(e) Promote education and training in traditional skills in all disciplines appropriate to the conservation and promotion of heritage;

(f) Promote the active role of older persons as custodians of cultural heritage, knowledge, trades and skills.

154. To integrate development with conservation and rehabilitation goals, Governments at the appropriate levels, including local authorities, should:

(a) Recognize that the historical and cultural heritage is an important asset, and strive to maintain the social, cultural and economic viability of historically and culturally important sites and communities;

(b) Preserve the inherited historical settlement and landscape forms, while protecting the integrity of the historical urban fabric and guiding new construction in historical areas;

(c) Provide adequate legal and financial support for the implementation of conservation and rehabilitation activities, in particular through adequate training of specialized human resources;

(d) Promote incentives for such conservation and rehabilitation to public, private and nonprofit developers;

(e) Promote community based action for the conservation, rehabilitation, regeneration and maintenance of neighbourhoods;

(f) Support public and private sector and community partnerships for the rehabilitation of inner cities and neighbourhoods;

(g) Ensure the incorporation of environmental concerns in conservation and rehabilitation projects;

(h) Take measures to reduce acid rain and other types of environmental pollution that damage buildings and other items of cultural and historical value;

(i) Adopt human settlements planning policies, including transport and other infrastructure policies, that avoid environmental degradation of historical and cultural areas;

(j) Ensure that the accessibility concerns of people with disabilities are incorporated in conservation and rehabilitation projects.

Historic Preservation and America in the World - Part 2

Yesterday I wrote Part 1 of Historic Preservation and America in the World. That entry listed the first 10 of 20 reasons why it is important for historic preservation to be a key component of US foreign policy. Today's blog lists reasons 11-20 and tomorrow I'll discuss 10 ways to make that happen.

11. The adaptive reuse of historic buildings is fully compatible with participation in economic globalization, which is critical for stability and prosperity in most of the world.

12. Although neither the proponents nor the opponents of globalization recognize it, there is not one globalization, but two - economic globalization and cultural globalization. The first, while not without challenges, has measurable long term benefits; the second has short term negative social and political consequences, and long term negative economic consequences. The most vociferous opposition to globalization comes from those seeing and appropriately resisting cultural globalization. The adaptive reuse of historic buildings is one of the few strategies that simultaneously allows the beneficial participation in economic globalization, while mitigating the adverse impacts of cultural globalization.

13. Our having a policy encouraging and assisting historic preservation shows our respect for the local culture of each country.

14. There are aspects of other cultures that do not deserve our respect, rather warrant our reproach - the role of women in Saudi Arabia, the rule of law in Pakistan, freedom of worship in China, tolerance of diversity in India. But those cultural changes will not take place under the point of a gun, nor will they - however meritorious change may be - take place overnight. A strategy of our valuing local heritage resources, however, shows our respect for those cultures without condoning every aspect of them.

Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia

15. A historic preservation based policy is applicable anywhere and works equally well in Asia, Africa, or Latin America. 97% of the net world population growth in the next 20 years will be on those three continents.

16. Developing historic preservation as a key component of our international policy provides a useful vehicle for our learning about other cultures on an in-depth and sustained basis. The most vociferous cheerleader for American policies today would hardly claim we're the most culturally aware nation on earth.

Muharraq, Bahrain

17. As we assist other countries in identifying, protecting, and enhancing their historic resources, we are at the same time aiding them in building sustainable and marketable local skills. The crafts and trades required for the conservation of heritage resources are not jobs that can be lost overnight to a cheaper overseas supplier. They are also labor intensive jobs without being make-work jobs.

18. In much of the world the major problem is the migration from the countryside to the already overcrowded urban areas. A combination of technological advances, and protection and enhancement of local resources could be a useful tool in helping to stem that tide. Again, Main Street successes in small towns here are an example of that strategy.

19. Most of the world has begun to recognize (although this is an area where environmentalists in the United States still have much to learn) that the protection and enhancement of heritage resources is a central component of a comprehensive sustainable development strategy. Our national policy should advance that perspective both at home and abroad.

Baku, Azerbaijan

20. Encouraging, assisting, and supporting each country's identification, protection and enhancement of its historic resources is an excellent use of American "soft power", a set of tools too rarely used in recent years. Defense Secretary Gates recognized this deficiency noting recently that more of US foreign policy needs to be on the diplomatic side and less on the military side.

Tomorrow - 10 ways to make historic preservation an important part of US foreign policy.

Historic Preservation and America in The World - Part 1

This is an election year in the United States. Most of the readers of this blog are neither American nor, I suspect, much interested in American politics. I wrote this blog primarily for an American audience on the website of my domestic company PlaceEconomics. But it occurred to me that at least some of my international readers would be interested in attempts to get a larger role for heritage conservation in American foreign policy.

Increasingly in the US the multiple roles of historic preservation are becoming better known - downtown revitalization, neighborhood stabilization, job creation, heritage tourism, affordable housing, local economic development, sustainable development and others.

But less understood is the potential role that historic preservation could play as a central part of the international policy of the United States. So maybe 10 weeks before the general election is a good time to write about those roles.

There are deep divisions within the United States regarding America's actions in the world in the past few years. And there are strong arguments on every side about the rightness or wrongness of our current policies.

But no objective observer and no one who has traveled to foreign countries in recent years can escape three realities: 1) among both America's friends and America's opponents regard for the United States has fallen dramatically in recent years; 2) the regaining of the respect and the reestablishment of the leadership of the United States will take concentrated effort over a long period of time - perhaps a generation or more; and 3) essential to that effort will be the reengagement of the American government with international institutions, most of which were created through the leadership of the United States.

I firmly believe that incorporating historic preservation as a key component of the international policy of the United States can play a central role in our efforts to restore America's place of leadership in the world.

I know that sounds overreaching ... that compared with military bases, massive foreign aid programs to build roads, dams, and hospitals, the CIA, and big embassies, historic preservation cannot possibly play that important role.

I would suggest there are at least twenty reasons why historic preservation not only can play such a role, but needs to:

1. Of the five or six times President Bush has spoken to the General Assembly of the United Nations, and the dozens of initiatives he has announced there, his warmest reception came when he declared that the United States would rejoin UNESCO after an 18-year absence.


Banksa Staivnica, Slovakia

2. There is certainly great expertise in some aspects of historic preservation in other parts of the world, especially in Europe, that surpasses ours here in the United States. What we have exceeded in, however, is the market-based strategies for the adaptive reuse of historic buildings. That could constitute a meaningful contribution to countries around the globe.

3. America is the only military superpower left on earth and there are good reasons that it should remain so. However, if there is one vital lesson from September 11th and from Iraq it is this: having far and away the strongest military is not enough to protect the United States. Historic preservation could serve as a non-military component of a comprehensive strategy that recognizes military strength is necessary but not sufficient for sustained and credible world leadership or for world peace.

4. One of the great economic arguments for historic preservation in the United States is the positive local impact on jobs and household incomes that rehabilitation makes relative both to new construction and to most other economic activities. This aspect is demonstrably true in the rest of the world as well. There are few countries in the world where creating local jobs isn't a high priority, particularly in the developing world.

5. While both the private and public sectors play an important role in historic preservation in the US, it has always been the non-profit sector that has been the strongest advocate, the best educator, and the most innovative problem solver in preservation in America. Change in the developing world will be led by the NGO sector as well. Using historic preservation as a strategy abroad helps us assist in the establishment and effectiveness of NGOs elsewhere.

Singapore

6. A legitimate concern, particularly in World Heritage Cities, is that a heritage tourism strategy can often overwhelm the fragile historic resources. While heritage tourism will still be important, we have been developing the knowledge here as to how to protect those resources from overuse. More importantly, however, more than anywhere else on the globe, we have found economic uses for historic buildings far beyond heritage tourism. My best guess is that 95% of all the historic buildings in economically productive use in the United States have nothing to do with tourism.

Cuenca, Spain

7. A historic preservation based international relations component of American policy would be vastly less expensive for taxpayers than buying missiles for foreign armies or building dams of questionable economic utility and negative environmental impact.

8. We have seen in the US some of the downsides of economic growth and prosperity - suburban sprawl, declining city centers, loss of agricultural lands, environmental degradation, loss of affordable housing and others. Encouraging and assisting developing countries to adopt preservation-based strategies could be central in their preempting those problems before they occur.

9. Economic development is never a quick fix; it is always an incremental process. The demonstrable success of Main Street - economic development in the context of historic preservation - has reinforced the understanding and effectiveness of incrementalism. A historic preservation based component of international policy would inherently be an incremental one, thus both providing the time to regain our rightful position in world leadership and to dissuade the idea that there in an instant answer to difficult economic, political, and social problems.

Hanoi, Vietnam

10. As a parallel to incrementalism, a historic preservation based strategy is inherently long-term. Internationally among the strongest criticisms of American policy is that it seems to be exclusively short term. We certainly need to demonstrate more long-term thinking.


Tomorrow - 10 more reasons for historic preservation to be part of US foreign policy