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“Sustainable Development Based on Valorizing the Historic Urban Fabric,” Paper by Dr. Mona Serageldin, 9th World Congress of the Organization of World Heritage Cities in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia, 2007

Abstract

Mona Serageldin authored this report and presented it to the 9th World Congress of the Organization of World Heritage Cities in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia in June 2007. The report posits that cities must preserve their identities in the midst of change in order to integrate their cultural heritage and their economic development strategy, and outlines 10 steps towards accomplishing this objective.


[Excerpt: Mona Serageldin, “Sustainable Development,” 1 – Background, page 1]

“From ancient oracles to medieval pilgrimages to modern tourist attractions, cities flourished capitalizing on their cultural and natural heritage long before national governments understood its potential as a driver of national economic development. Development is a multifaceted concept integrating economic, social, institutional and cultural dimensions. It deals with the present and strives to shape the future. It entails change spurred by visions and a sense of purpose but it also embodies varying degrees of continuity that define identity and shared values.”
……

“Today culture is recognized as an important dimension of development, but viewpoints differ widely regarding the role that the legacy of the past should play in shaping the future and the role economic considerations should play in determining the use of the heritage. Two key economic trends pose serious challenges to heritage preservation:

1. The economic restructuring brought about by globalization and the massive population movements it has generated are increasing the ethnic and cultural diversity of cities and contributing to generating urban dynamics of growing complexity;

2. The rapid pace of technological innovation is generating a constant onslaught of new messages and images displaying symbols and lifestyles associated with status and achievement that tend to devalorize the old. Simultaneously, the propagation of unfiltered information is fostering the perpetuation or revival of distinctive cultural values, beliefs and customs. Ethnically diverse subgroups among a population can cluster and operate in separate patterns of activity within the same urban space.

“Astute political and civic leaders view these trends with apprehension and try to overcome fragmentation by promoting interactions that enhance shared values across cultures and counter narrow views that create exclusion.”

Project Year:2007
Project Type:Research Paper
Geographic Regions:Kazan, Russia (Conference Location)
Reports:Sustainable Development Based on Valorizing the Historic Urban Fabric: (Mona Serageldin, June 2007)
Authors:Mona Serageldin
Sponsors:Getty Conservation Institute
Categories:Historic Districts
  
ID:2007_06_001

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“Preserving the Historic Urban Fabric in a Context of Fast Paced Change,” Research Essay by Mona Serageldin, 1998

Abstract

In this 1998 essay, Mona Serageldin responded to the Getty Conservation Institute’s “Agora Values and Benefits Inquiry” by examining the challenges of preserving historic centers in societies experiencing fast-paced political, economic, or demographic change. Documents include the 1998 report and a draft report with reference list. Contributing authors included Sameh Wahba.

Serageldin’s 1998 essay laid the grounded for the Institute’s ongoing directives from the late 1990s onwards. Her research drew clear links between the need to bolster urban populations during politically challenging periods and the need to protect historic cultural and architectural districts during times of unpredictable change. This dual approach attempted to navigate a cross-disciplinary approach to solving these issues, offering in-depth social and economic analyses. This perspective continues to be relevant in the present global environments, where the stressors of climate change and migratory upheaval necessitate complex planning to preserve valuable urban spaces.



[Excerpt: Mona Serageldin, Final Report, “Preserving the Historic Urban Fabric in a Context of Fast Paced Change,” p. 2]

“This essay looks at cultural heritage from the viewpoint of addressing the challenge of preserving historic centers in societies experiencing fast paced change. This situation is commonly encountered in newly independent states, countries undergoing economic restructuring and nations charting a course through difficult political transition. The cultural heritage contained in the historic cores of urban settlements is subjected to the interplay of two major forces:

1. The dynamics of development and transformation as they affect population movements and real estate markets.

2. The perceptual and practical links between people and their architectural and cultural
heritage.

“Rapid economic and institutional transformation subjects the built environment to varying degrees of strain which expose cultural heritage to risk. Concepts of preservation transferred from countries enjoying prolonged stability and growth often prove to be unaffordable and ineffective in preventing the onset of decay in historic cores. National development policies focused on economic issues do not adequately support conservation objectives and may even clash with them while the dynamics of real estate markets reinforce disparities in valuation between the old and the new. They create situations where the value of the land in accessible sites is depressed by the historic buildings standing on it because of their condition or use.”

“Appreciation of the built environment is partially conditioned by participation in the network of interlinked organizations underlying the social order: family and kin groups, ethnic, religious and political associations and even occupation and business interests. Rapid transformation causes strains and dislocations in these structures. Restructuring of production opens new fields and opportunities to acquire status and wealth independently of old systems. Reshaping the institutional and legal frameworks within which new and surviving organizations have to function creates new channels for upward mobility as well as new symbols of achievement and status. The mechanisms of self improvement and the experience of personal fulfillment are more or less profoundly altered.”
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Project Year:1998
Project Type:Cultural Heritage Essay
Geographic Regions:Global / None Specified
Reports:
Authors:Mona Serageldin; Sameh Wahba
Sponsors:Getty Conservation Institute
Categories:Historic Districts
  
ID:1998_11_001

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