Issue 15: March - April 2002

UNU hosts seminar on
historic Asian cities

Regatta festival in Yangon, historic capital of Myanmar

Experts from 12 East Asian countries gathered at UNU Centre in Tokyo Febuary 21 to discuss how promote the sustainable development and re-creation of traditional culture, with an emphasis on the conservation and regeneration of historic landscapes and cities.

United Nations University  (UNU) hosted the Regional Seminar on Recreation of Historic Landscape and Revitalization of Traditional Cities, which was jointly organized by the UNU Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU/IAS), the Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ), and the Ishikawa International Cooperation Research Centre (IICRC).  

As the process of economic globalization continues to accelerate, there is growing concern about the preservation of unique “local” socio-cultural identities. An important aspect of preserving local individuality and character is the conservation and regeneration of historic cities.

Throughout East Asia, rapid and large-scale industrialization and urbanization are threatening many valuable world cultural heritage sites and traditional buildings. Cities endowed with unique cultural heritages are struggling to preserve their indigenous socio-economic structures, cultural assets, and natural environments, all of which constitute precious tourism resources. 

The conservation of historic buildings and districts typically has been administrated by public agencies in both developed and developing countries, with varying degrees of success. But while city-level urban landscape conservation policies are now being positively implemented in many Western countries, socio-economic mechanisms to cope with this issue have not yet been established in East Asia. 

Participants at the UNU seminar focused on the critical issue of how to organize appropriate mechanisms for conserving and regenerating East Asia's cultural heritage properties.

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