Baltic Sea Region Co-Operation on Sustainable Urban Heritage Management
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BALTIC SEA REGION CO-OPERATION ON SUSTAINABLE URBAN HERITAGE MANAGEMENT Activities of the working group Sustainable Historic Towns 2001 - 2002 Baltic Sea Region Co-operation on Nordic Council of Ministers Sustainable Urban Heritage Management Store Strandstræde 18 DK-1255 Copenhagen K TemaNord 2003:565 Phone (+45) 33 96 02 00 © Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen Fax (+45) 33 96 02 02 2003 Nordic Council ISBN 92-893-0964-4 Store Strandstræde 18 ISSN 0908-6692 DK-1255 Copenhagen K Phone (+45) 33 96 04 00 html-version: Ventus Digital I/S Fax (+45) 33 11 18 70 www.norden.org 1 PREFACE Town Raahe on the eastern cost of the Gulf of Bothnia. Photo National Board of Antiquities of Finland. The co-operation between Finland, Norway and Sweden on the preservation of Nordic wooden towns was carried out in the late 1960s. The work resulted in developed methods on urban heritage inventories and conservation plans for several individual wooden towns. The conclusions were disseminated in a number of publications and a conclusive conference. The concern for the preservation of wooden towns and built areas in the Baltic countries resulted in Nordic-Baltic heritage authorities' co-operation in the years 1997-2000. A series of conferences was arranged to enhance the cultural values of the urban environment in wood in the Baltic States and to discuss problems on infillarchitecture in the historic urban fabric. The conclusive conference on "Historical European Towns - Identity and Change" was held in Oulu, Finland in 2000. The seminar was arranged with financial grants from the EU Raphael Programme. The working group "Sustainable Historic Towns", initiated by the Monitoring Group on Cultural Heritage Co-operation in the Baltic Sea Region, was set up in year 2000. Its structure and memberships based on the network formed by the Nordic-Baltic wooden town co-operation. The chairmanship is under the National Board of Antiquities in Finland together with the National Heritage Board of Estonia. Members are experts from national and regional heritage boards in Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden. From Lithuania the Vilnius Gediminas Technical University is also involved. A representative of the Russian authorities has taken part in two meetings. The aims and goals of the working group were adopted in late 2000. The challenges for urban heritage conservation in the Baltic Sea region are common although the urban history and the legal and administrative instruments to manage them are different in the individual countries. In the Nordic countries there is a manifested order to clarify improved practices for integrated, sustainable urban management - in Finland the New Land Use and Planning Act states that the planning process should be transparent and at the local level interactive. In Norway the Governmental programme is called City Renewal and in Sweden local heritage protection is seen as a resource. In Denmark the organisational changes have reshaped the national Urban Heritage Management programmes. As the pressure of a market economy is focused on historical, valuable areas in cities and towns of the Baltic countries, Poland and the former German Democratic Republic, the practices of Urban Heritage Management, such as decision making processes, methodological tools for making analyses and evaluations, cross-sector co-operation and NGO involvement are defined in stages. The "Sustainable Historic Towns" working group is a network and platform to discuss problems on urban heritage conservation and heritage as a resource for local identity and development. Improvement of Urban Heritage Management tools involves partners in different sectors, such 2 as national, regional and local authorities, universities and research institutes. In order to co- operate more tightly, the network has initiated the project "Sustainable Historic Towns - Urban Heritage as an Asset of Development". The project has been approved as an Interreg III B part- funded project for the years 2003-05. Helsinki, March 2004 Margaretha Ehrström Marianne Lehtimäki 3 SUMMARY Urbanisation is considered to be one of the most important challenges of the 21st century, affecting also the authorities working with urban heritage conservation. Indicators for sustainable development for Urban Heritage Management have not yet been defined. Administrative methods must be integrated. This report presents the work of the "Sustainable Historic Towns" working group in the years 2001-2002. The background and aims of the working group is presented in the first chapter. The working group was initiated by the Monitoring Group on Cultural Heritage Co-operation in the Baltic Sea States and set up in 2000. The working group will promote preservation and sustainable development of historic towns of the Baltic Sea States by recognising their local identity. The means used are to develop a common strategy, management and good practices for sustainable development in historic towns. Furthermore research activities are encouraged and innovative projects are promoted in participation with national, regional and local authorities, NGOs and other sectors. The working group arranged a workshop in Tallinn in 2001 on the theme "Identity as Cultural Resource - Small Historic Towns Facing Development and Change". The papers, presented in the second chapter, took up problems on the methodology for sustainable urban development on one hand and urban heritage protection on the other. The Norwegian project led by the National Heritage Board on "City Renewal" was presented as a national effort for preserving urban heritage. This project aims at developing methods of inventories for analyses of cultural heritage values so that they can be included in the planning processes and conservation programmes. Case studies were presented from Ribe, Denmark; Kuressare, Estonia; Forssa, Finland and Hjo, Sweden. The Conference on "Contemporary Architecture and Design in Historic Urban Areas" took place in Riga in December 2002. The conference was attended by some 90 local and international experts. The papers, presented in the third chapter, discussed, for example, the questions of local heritage identity in times of change, the role of different actors in urban heritage preservation, and what the pre-conditions are for contemporary architecture in a historic urban environment. The conference agreed upon a resolution. This conference was also an event to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of UNESCO´s World Heritage Convention and Riga Historic Centre´s Fifth Anniversary as a World Heritage Site. The activities of the working group "Sustainable Historic Towns" have also resulted in national reports on urban heritage preservation, here presented in chapter four. They deal with the national legislation on urban preservation, methods on inventories and analyses and current tasks and challenges. These reports also form the basic material for the future activities of the working group. 4 SAMMANDRAG Urbaniseringen anses vara en av 21:sta århundradets viktigaste utmaningar. Det här berör även de myndigheter och ämbetsverk som ansvarar för bevarandet av kulturmiljöer och byggnadsarvet i historiska städer. Det har skrivits om bärkraftig utveckling i kulturhistoriskt viktiga stadsmiljöer, men man har ännu inte kunnat precisera allmängiltiga indikatorer. Den här rapporten presenterar arbetsgruppens "Sustainable Historic Towns" verksamhet under åren 2001-2002. Arbetsgruppen tillsattes 2000 under initiativ av samarbetsgruppen för kulturarvssamarbetet inom Östersjöregionen (Monitoring Group on Cultural Heritage Co- operation in the Baltic Sea States). Arbetsgruppens målsättning är att föra fram vård och bärkraftig utveckling i historiska städer i Östersjöländerna. Det lokala byggnadsarvet ses som en resurs i utvecklingen. Metoderna för arbetsgruppen är att utarbeta en gemensam strategi, verktyg och "good practice" för en bärkraftig utveckling i historiskt viktiga stadsmiljöer. Samarbetspartners är nationella, regionala och lokala myndigheter, invånarföreningar samt universitet och forskarinstitutioner. Arbetsgruppen ordnade ett seminarium i Tallinn 2001 med temat "Identity as Cultural Resource - Small Historic Towns Facing Development and Change." Presentationerna tog upp problematiken kring metoderna om bärkraftig utveckling i historiska stadsmiljöer och vården och bevarandet av de urbana miljöerna. Det norska projektet lett av Riksantikvaren om stadsförnyelse presenterades som ett nationellt övergripande program att bevara nationellt betydelsefulla stadsmiljöer. I projektet ingår utveckling av inventeringsmetoder och analys av kulturmiljöer. Därtill vill man finna modeller för hur denna kunskap kan överföras till planeringsprocessen och särskilda vårdprogram. Fallstudier från Ribe i Danmark, Kuressare i Estland, Forssa i Finland och Hjo i Sverige presenterades även på seminariet. Den internationella konferensen "Contemporary Architecture and Design in Historic Urban Areas" arrangerades i Riga år 2002. I konferensen deltog c. 90 lokala och internationella experter. Konferensen behandlade teman som den lokala identitetens betydelse vid stadsutveckling, olika aktörers roll i vården av stadsmiljöer samt vilka krav man bör ställa på ny arkitektur i historisk stadsmiljö. Konferensen sammanfattade resultaten av presentationerna och diskussionerna i en resolution. I samband med konferensen ordnades en skild session för att fira UNESCO´s världsarvskonvention, som fyllde 30 år, samt Riga´s historiska centrum, vilket varit världsarv i fem år.