The Historic Urban Landscape: Managing Heritage in an Urban Century

“But for the time being, we can dispassionately recommend that this book becomes the manual not only of professional planners, conservation officers and managers of heritage sites worldwide, but also of academics and students, of landscape designers, architects and engineers and of everyone involved in urban conservation and management, because there is no target audience for a book that is at the same time militant and historical.”  (Planning Perspectives, 11 March 2013)

“This is an important book, destined one hopes to be essential reading for those involved in urban conservation globally: scholars, practitioners, managers, students.”  (Landscape Research Journal, 2012)

 Heritage has become a recognized economic driver, and the authors are proponents of the integration of urban conservation into urban development. The Historic Urban Landscape methodology, therefore, becomes a tool for the management of change (This book) is well written, straightforward and easy to understand. Its concepts are an evolution of current practices in a rapidly changing world impacted by urban migration and globalization. The Historic Urban Landscape will change in a major way accepted notions of historic cities preservation. Pamela Jerome Association of Preservation Technology Bulletin, 2012 with this volume, Francesco Bandarin and Ron van Oers manage to make a most valuable contribution to this body of literature with a thoughtful and practical approach I would recommend the book to scholars of urban planning, but also as a must read for any policy-maker and officers of local authority working in the field of heritage conservation and heritage site management. —Laura Pierantoni SPANDREL, 7 (2013)

The growing complexity of urban heritage conservation makes reaching a consensus on how to manage urban heritage difficult. Additionally, the sharp increase in the world’s population now living in urban areas, combined with a lack of policies to facilitate a sustainable use of heritage assets means the pressure on historic sites is set to rise. Unless new and innovative ways of managing these sites can be agreed on, there is a real danger that historic cities as we know them today will not survive the first decades of the 21^st century.

The Historic Urban Landscape: managing heritage in an urban century offers a comprehensive overview of the intellectual developments in urban conservation. The book examines its modern interpretations and critiques, and the way in which the classical approach has been challenged by the evolution of the conceptual and operational context of urban management. Analyses are provided of how World Heritage sites are managed – with associated debates and decisions – to inform the development of local urban conservation policies and practices.

The authors offer unique insights from UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre and the book is richly illustrated with colour photographs. Examples are drawn from urban heritage sites worldwide – from Timbuktu to Liverpool – to demonstrate key issues and best practice in urban conservation today.

The book offers an invaluable resource for architects, planners, surveyors and engineers worldwide working in heritage conservation, as well as for local authority conservation officers and managers of heritage sites.