This special issue published in 2016 centres on papers delivered at the international conference on ‘World Heritage Sites in a National Context: The Implementation of the 1972 UNESCO Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage’ held at the University of Kent, Canterbury 15–16 January 2015. The conference was funded largely by the United Kingdom Arts and Humanities Research Council, which also supported a research network of international collaborators involving 10 countries that were chosen because of their representativeness of two of the five regions defined by UNESCO (Europe and North America: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States; Asia and Pacific: Australia, China and Japan). The initial research conducted through this network concerning the identification of national properties for inclusion in the World Heritage List in relation to the criteria of outstanding universal value, authenticity and integrity and the nomination of properties is examined in the paper by Sophie Vigneron (‘From Local to World Heritage: A Comparative Analysis’). Building on this, the main themes for the conference were developed through a second study involving the research network. Robert Pickard’s paper (‘Setting the Scene: The Protection and Management of Cultural World Heritage Properties in a National Context’) examines issues concerning the protection and management tools that are in place to protect and safeguard World Cultural Heritage properties in five of the network countries (China, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States) which formed the basis of themes for the conference call for papers. The themes examined in this context include the following: legal and administrative measures for protection (including recommendations and guidelines of international organizations), other protection mechanisms (planning policy and regulations), management systems and their efficiency at protecting cultural world heritage properties in ‘the day to day’ administration (increase in tourism, financial resources, sustainable development), as well as unusual situations (development, risk and disaster), and the role of management bodies and representatives, capacity building and monitoring of the properties (practical experiences).
Particular issues relating to these broad themes have also been examined through individual papers; the objective of the conference was to seek an interdisciplinary approach to issues and consider different perspectives including legal issues. Management plans and systems are considered in the paper by Maria Paola Borgarino, Stefano Della Torre, Paulo Gasparoli and Anna Teresa Ronchi in the case of the industrial heritage of the town of Crespi d’Adda, which refers to the fact that management plans have been required for all Italian World Heritage properties since 2006: ‘Crespi d’Adda, Italy: The Management Plan as an Opportunity to Deal with Change’. Furthermore, the paper by María Eugenia Siguenza and Julia Rey Pérez explores the problems of developing a management system from an urban landscape viewpoint in the case of the historic centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca in Ecuador in the paper entitled 'Heritage values protection, from the monument to the urban dimension. Case study: the historic centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca, Ecuador'. By reference to UNESCO’s 2011 recommendation, the historic urban landscape approach is considered in the paper by Hannaneh Sobhani Sanjbod, Luuk Hermans, Daniek Reijnders and Loes Veldpaus, concentrating on the role mapping attributes and values for local management practice in their paper 'Captain, where can we find the attributes?'.
Christopher Young’s paper builds on the general themes by examining the use of tools provided through the operation of the World Heritage Convention. His paper 'Understanding management in a World Heritage context: key current issues in Europe' centres on the sources of data provided through the mechanisms of Periodic Reporting and Reactive Monitoring to identify particular issues including problems associated with visitor management and failures to engage sufficiently with decision-takers and external stakeholders, such as local communities. This latter theme is further developed through the paper by Beatrice Barreiro-Carril by looking at 'Indigenous Peoples’ participation in decision-making in the context of World Heritage Sites: how International Human Rights Law can help?'.
Susan Galera’s paper on 'The benefits of legal globalization. Soft law: a case study of heritage law' looks at the problems of protecting cultural heritage in a global context through ‘soft law’ mechanisms such as conventions and guidelines and the need to embed them in ‘hard law’ solutions such as heritage impact assessment mechanisms in a national context.
At the end of 2015, there were 48 properties that the World Heritage Committee had decided to include in the List of World Heritage in Danger, for various reasons, in accordance with Article 11 (4) of the World Heritage Convention. The most significant reason is due to conflict. The particular problems of dealing with breaks in state obligations to protect World Heritage properties in this context, and the need for transitional justice as a building block of peacebuilding, are examined by Marina Lostal and Emma Cunliffe in the case of World Heritage and other cultural heritage sites, including the six inscribed properties in Syria, all of which are listed as being in danger.
Financial support measures are explored in the paper by Ümmϋhan Nurşah Cabbar and Esra Özkan Yazgan in relation to the maintenance of properties in the inscribed site of Safranbolu in Turkey: 'State support policy concerning the conservation of traditional architectural heritage in Safranbolu, Turkey.' Within the broad debate between commodification and sustainable development, Roger White’s paper examines 'Any old iron? Marketing models and sustainable regeneration in Ironbridge', one of the UK’s eight World Heritage properties that centre on the industrial heritage. Finally, the particular problems of coordinating management of transboundary properties is examined through Ona Vileikis’ paper 'Monitoring serial transnational World Heritage – the Central Asian Silk Roads experience', which explores the development of online tools and mapping techniques including monitoring and risk management.
Northumbria University, Independent Consultant, UK
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Sophie Vigneron
Kent Law School, University of Kent, UK
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