GreenBRIDGE

Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development

Session Co-ordinator : Tatiana Vakhitova 

Heritage is playing an important role in the cities’ life: it helps to shape communities’ identity, boost economy through tourism and investments attraction, allows efficient resources use (materials/energy) in case of re-use/rehabilitation of the buildings. Still urban development projects in most cases do not explicitly take into account all the values heritage posses and therefore do not achieve the utmost in the development projects from the potential social/environmental benefits of the historic environment. The heritage is in many cases perceived as something that ‘complicates’ the project; rather than opportunity and advantage; which present a valuable ‘historical framework’ for a development. Careful consideration of all the diverse values ‘embodied in heritage’ (scientific, historic, social, aesthetic/artistic, besides ecological/economical) and its placement in the core of the urban development, is argued to help in achievement of proclaimed sustainability targets.