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Twenty Years of World Heritage Cultural Landscapes, 1992 - 201249TH IFLA WORLD CONGRESS CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA 2012 LANDSCAPES IN TRANSITION
World Heritage Selection Criteria
To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value to humankind and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria established by the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention (UNESCO, 2005):
i. To represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;ii. To exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;iii. To bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;iv. To be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) signifi cant stage(s) in human history;v. To be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;vi. To be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal signifi cance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);vii. To contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;viii. To be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, signifi cant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or signifi cant geomorphic or physiographic features;ix. To be outstanding examples representing signifi cant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals; x. To contain the most important and signifi cant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.
Authors
Patricia M. O’Donnell, FASLA, AICP - [email protected] and founder of Heritage Landscapes LLC, Preservation Landscape Architects & Planners (USA), is a recognized expert in the fi eld of landscape preservation. She holds dual masters degrees in landscape architecture and urban planning (U. of Illinois). Her professional contributions include service as IFLA Cultural Landscapes Committee Global Chair, International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) expert member, and participant in the UNESCO World Heritage process. With offi ces in Vermont and Connecticut, Heritage Landscapes has successfully completed over 400 projects and received 59 professional awards since 1987.Gregory W. De Vries, ASLA - [email protected] project manager at Heritage Landscapes LLC, holds masters degrees in landscape architecture (U. of Michigan) and cultural anthropology (U. of Florida). Greg has engaged a wide range heritage preservation topics through participation in the IFLA Cultural Landscapes Committee and the Expert Committee on Cultural Landscapes of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). Greg’s prior experiences with landscape planning and design projects in Central America and the Caribbean off er a unique perspective to his contributions and have led to successes such as the 2011 nomination of the St. Mary’s Biosphere Reserve in St. Kitts through the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme.Sarah LeVaun Graulty, MHP - [email protected] manager at Heritage Landscapes LLC, holds a masters degree in Historic Preservation (U. of Vermont) and a bachelors degree in Art History (Smith College, Massachusetts). Sarah draws on her historic preservation background, US National Register of Historic Places experience, and tenure as a cultural resources specialist with New Hampshire Department of Transportation to contribute to numerous projects at Heritage Landscapes.
Summary
In 1992, UNESCO World Heritage adopted three defi nitions for cultural landscapes and provided for listing of these resources as World Heritage Sites. Twenty years under these constructs has yielded 98 of varying scales and types, as places of outstanding, universal value that transcend national boundaries. The study of these places sheds light on opportunities and challenges for all cultural landscapes.
Cultural landscapes are products of the interaction of people and nature, and vulnerable to the infl uence of both. The presenters researched and analyzed cultural landscapes listed as World Heritage today. The listed sites were analyzed by location, type of cultural landscape, criteria for inscription, vulnerability, and management.
Cultural landscapes listed as World Heritage in danger and sites with known threats were researched to investigate the issue of vulnerability and exposure to pressures. Site management data were scrutinized to discern strategies and tools being applied. The research process yielded a broad understanding of the landscapes listed, noting the prevalence of the evolved-continuing landscape type. Further, it is evident that places where people continue to live and thrive are the most subject to change. World heritage cultural landscapes exemplify vulnerabilities due to pressures such as population growth, socio-economic transformation, environmental change, and human confl ict.
Variability in the application of management strategies accounts for a range of outcomes at world heritage sites. Excluding sites experiencing ongoing war or civil unrest, cultural landscapes with management challenges indicate a lack of clarity concerning boundaries, inadequate buff er zones, competing economic interests within the property, lack of state investment, and general economic transitions that aff ect living landscapes. Successful management strategies for cultural landscapes facing threats include eff ective tourism monitoring, enforceable legal frameworks, community participation, updated management plans, support of multiple stakeholders, land use planning in productive landscapes, capacity building specifi c to heritage values, support of traditional practices. Stewards of world heritage cultural landscapes may be able to share successful strategies to overcome challenges in the future.
Cultural Landscape Categories & Cultural Heritage Criteria
There is a defi ned relationship between cultural heritage criteria and cultural landscape categories as indicated in World Heritage Papers Series No. 26: Cultural Landscapes, A Handbook for Conservation and Management (N.Mitchell, M.Rössler, and P.Tricaud, 2009: Ap.2).
Criterion i - The most easily identifi able is the clearly defi ned landscape designed and created intentionally by man. This embraces garden and parkland landscapes constructed for aesthetic reasons which are often (but not always) associated with religious or other monumental buildings and ensembles.
Criteria ii-v - The second category is the organically evolved landscape. This results from an initial social, economic, administrative, and/or religious imperative and has developed its present form by association with and in response to its natural environment. Such landscapes refl ect that process of evolution in their form and component features.They fall into two sub-categories:• A relict (or fossil) landscape is one in which an evolutionary process came to an end at some time in the past, either abruptly or over a period. Its signifi cant distinguishing features are, however, still visible in material form.• A continuing landscape is one which retains an active social role in contemporary society closely associated with the traditional way of life, and in which the evolutionary process is still in progress. At the same time it exhibits signifi cant material evidence of its evolution over time.
Criterion vi - The fi nal category is the associative cultural landscape. The inclusion of such landscapes on the World Heritage List is justifi able by virtue of the powerful religious, artistic or cultural associations of the natural element rather than material cultural evidence, which may be insignifi cant or even absent.
Basic Numbers
98 World Heritage Cultural Landscapes
30 Historic Urban Landscapes
UNESCO World Regions Cultural Landscapes• 10 Africa• 3 Arab States• 21 Asia & the Pacifi c• 43 Europe & North America• 15 Latin America & the Caribbean
Types of World Heritage Property for Inscription• 91 cultural• 7 mixed cultural-natural
Cultural Landscape Types• 7 clearly defi ned• 32 organically evolved - relict• 73 organically evolved - continuing• 25 associative
Vulnerable Cultural Landscapes• 3 listed as World Heritage in Danger• 32 sites with explicit threats
Primary Threats to World Heritage Cultural Landscapes
Population Growth• 10 population growth• 3 urban sprawl
Socio-Economic Transformation• 9 economic change• 2 poverty• 2 out-migration• 2 mining, extractive industries• 1 modern infrastructure• 1 tourism• 1 cultural change
Environmental Change• 8 climate-related issues• 1 earthquake
Human Confl ict• 4 war• 1 civil unrest
Other• 2 various threats due to remoteness• 1 various threats
