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theses

Cities -- Historic cities -- Inhabited Historic cities; their protection, nomination and preservation are the focus of this thesis. The UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) adopted in 2011, and the “Cronocaos” exhibition (Rem Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematso, New Museum NYC, 2011) which raised some criticism about preservation limiting contemporary architecture and urbanism interventions, triggered this thesis. This thesis, however, posits that the new Recommendation is in fact a natural continuum of previous standard-setting documents developed gradually from the mid-twentieth century to today, and is well connected to current trends rather than being too ambitious and "going too far". A thorough study of the HUL approach and the new Recommendation, along with contemporary sources, provide an understanding of the current professional discourse, and further supports this suggestion. The thesis findings illustrate that various aspects, such as setting, context, environment; social values and local communities; constant change, contemporary interventions, as well as integrated conservation, planning and management policies included in the 2011 Recommendation were addressed by previous recommendations, declarations, and charters, dealing directly and indirectly with urban heritage. The new Recommendation expands upon some of these issues, clarifies others, and adds new ones. Furthermore, the similar characteristics of cultural landscapes and historic towns as "living properties", and the relationship between the two concepts, demonstrated by the Operational Guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, support applying the landscape approach to the HUL. By providing a traditional and innovative toolkit, the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation, which is essentially a management plan, will hopefully minimize "the gap existing between the ideal world of the “Charters” and the practical realities," (2010 Preliminary Report). Overall the Recommendation retains strong ties to former international standard-setting documents, demonstrating that it is indeed a natural continuum rather than a disconnected and overly-ambitious preservation trend. This continuum has the potential to be integrated into twenty-first century environmental, ecological and sustainability approaches, and is thus appropriate for its time. Such integration holds promise for improvement of local communities' quality of life - of our life.

ETD_4680

M.A.

Includes bibliographical references

by Adi Sela Wiener

http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001600001.ETD.000068964

doi:10.7282/T3V69H5S

ETD graduate

The author owns the copyright to this work.