“First Principles” in Conservation: The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards RICHARD A. ENGELHARDT This article, based on the 2009 APT Asia’s Endangered Heritage: The and houses provide a connection with College of Fellows lecture, explores Conservation Imperative earlier times, serving as physical re- minders of people, events, and values award-winning projects and how Culture is the source of our identities, and providing tangible spaces in which providing a set of values on which to they illustrate a consensus about intangible forms of culture can be ex- base our lives and a frame of reference powerful “first principles,” which are pressed. The conservation of local, for our actions. The diversity of cultures national, and regional physical-cultural anchored by international is a source of creativity, innovation, and resources is pre-requisite to sustaining conservation standards while also renewal and is vital for the continuity of equitable social and economic develop- human development. Emanating from reflecting regional specificities. ment. Our built heritage is also valuable our cultures are the tangible and intan- for its aesthetic beauty and symbolic gible manifestations of this heritage. qualities and for the emotions that they The built heritage, which provides the inspire. Yet our historic cities and the physical space for the non-physical buildings and public spaces of which expressions of culture, constitutes one they are constituted are increasingly of the most varied, complex, and elo- under threat from the twenty-first- quent manifestations of tangible cul- century requirements for housing, com- tural heritage. merce, transportation, and public ser- Built heritage is a physical represen- vices linked to development and mod- tation of culture and of cultural diver- ernization. sity. Monuments, religious buildings, The basic question we must confront is this: How do we balance the preserva- tion of the heritage significance of our built environment with the transforma- tions required by modernization? Nowhere is this question more press- ing than in the Asia-Pacific region, where the twin juggernauts of politics and development have swept before them centuries of historic environments. Unaddressed threats from development and modernization have too often re- sulted in negative consequences such as: • dismemberment of heritage sites, with resultant loss of integrity • dilapidation and structural deteriora- tion of the fabric of the region’s built environment, to the point where it can no longer adequately support the human uses for which it is intended • replacement of original components with counterfeit and non-indigenous technologies and materials • loss of the sense of place of the re- gion’s heritage sites through inappro- Fig. 1. Embodying Principle 1: Leh Old Town Community Conservation Project, Ladakh, India. All images copyright UNESCO 2007 and reproduced with permission. priate reconstruction processes that 57 58 APT BULLETIN: JOURNAL OF PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGY / 41:2-3, 2010 homogenize their unique characteris- practices that result in preservation and The Jury Commendation for Innova- tics catalyze other projects within the same tion was inaugurated in 2005 to recog- • disenfranchisement of the heritage communities and beyond. nize innovative new buildings that have from the traditions of community use Since its establishment, the program been integrated into historic districts. At the same time, the Asia-Pacific re- has brought to public attention a note- The submissions tackle head-on the key gion is also the crucible for forging worthy body of work. From 2000 issues facing the conservation profession creative new strategies for heritage through 2009, more than 500 entries everywhere, namely: conservation that are based on living were received from 23 countries, of • Is it possible to adapt heritage build- traditions of cultural practice and com- which 91 projects have been recognized ings for contemporary needs and still munity stewardship. With an over- with awards. Winners represent a broad retain their heritage significance? whelming percentage of historic struc- spectrum of the region’s built heritage • How do we insert contemporary tures in private hands, issues of restora- and testify to how buildings can be architecture into the historic urban tion and adaptive reuse of heritage successfully preserved in their traditional landscape? settings. They also demonstrate how buildings inevitably become a part of • To what extent is change possible if every policy debate. conservation principles can be integrated into various local development strate- historic districts are to maintain their Recognizing the value of built her- character and identity? itage both as a source of cultural mem- gies. • Most crucially, is historic conserva- ory and a resource for sustainable devel- Submissions reflect the public con- tion a mainstream action key to opment, UNESCO supports efforts cern for the continuity of local cultural sustainability strategies or only a worldwide to preserve built heritage. expression. The range of religious build- minor diversion in the development The 1972 Convention concerning the ing awards — Chinese ancestral temples, process? Protection of the World Cultural and Buddhist monasteries, Hindu shrines, Natural Heritage (popularly known as Sikh gurudwaras, Muslim mosques, The winning entries offer proof that the World Heritage Convention) forms Christian churches, and Jewish syna- the answer to these questions is every- the framework for international action gogues — collectively reflect the diverse where a resounding yes, and they dem- in the conservation of immovable tangi- living traditions of the region. Secular onstrate that while conservation is ble heritage.1 The principles enshrined in buildings receiving awards include grounded in universal principles, it is the convention and its Operational monumental structures, such as forts expressed in specific cultural practices Guidelines extend not only to the safe- and palaces; non-monumental buildings, that vary from place to place because of guarding of World Heritage sites but such as houses, factories, schools, shops, environment, politics, tradition, and, also other significant heritage sites. and other commercial buildings; and most importantly, the perception of the public infrastructure, such as bridges. value of heritage in each community. Awards have also gone to large-scale Stimulating Private-Sector Initiatives projects involving the protection and Awards Criteria for Heritage Conservation rehabilitation of gardens, streetscapes, A key component of UNESCO’s strat- canal and waterfront districts, in-situ The selection process for the awards egy to promote the conservation in the archaeological sites, and historic urban program is rigorous and is conducted region is the annual Asia-Pacific Her- quarters. The winners also include a annually by a panel of international itage Awards for Cultural Heritage representative slice of vernacular struc- experts in conservation architecture, Conservation, a program that was tures. urban planning, landscape design, and inaugurated in 2000 to coincide with Every year detailed project dossiers heritage resource management, all of the beginning of the new millennium are submitted for consideration for an whom practice professionally in the and was developed to respond to the award from every country and territory Asia-Pacific region. question, Within the realities of contem- around the Asia-Pacific region, from To qualify, buildings must be more porary, fast-track development, what do Antarctica to Uzbekistan, testifying to than 50 years old; the restoration work we, as Asians, want to preserve from the universal concern about conserva- must have been completed within the the past to inform our place in the tion of cultural places through the conti- last 10 years; and buildings must have global future? nuity of traditional building practice, been in viable use for at least one year. Strategically positioned at the center thus firmly debunking the sometimes- Residential, commercial, cultural, reli- of the often-heated debate between heard ideas that conservation is a gious, industrial, and institutional build- “Western principles” and “Asian val- “Western” preoccupation and a luxury ings and historic towns, gardens, and ues,” the awards establish a means of of concern only to the developed econo- bridges are eligible. The project must identifying and showcasing the most mies of the world. The entries also have been carried out with private- successful examples of best practices in highlight practical issues, ranging from sector input in the form of ownership, the region — practices which are as the disappearance of traditional materi- funding, or other support. Public-private often values-based as they are technical. als, skills, and techniques to the eco- partnership projects are especially en- The awards recognize private-sector nomic and political forces driving urban couraged to apply. achievements and public-private initia- densification and distorting property Since the program’s establishment in tives and encourage both policies and values. 2000, the selection criteria have evolved: “FIRST PRINCIPLES” IN CONSERVATION 59 greater emphasis has been placed on the assessment and understanding of the significance of a place. Not only has this focus encouraged applicants to clearly define the heritage values of projects, it has led to a fuller interpretation of the projects; thus helping to generate