Historic cities in development: keys for understanding and action

This project was launched in 2008 by the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) on the initiative of the City of Lyon, in partnership with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (within the framework of the France-UNESCO Convention and extrabudgetary funds from the Netherlands), the Council of Europe, the Getty Conservation Institute and ICOMOS, represented by its International Committee on Historic Cities and Villages (CIVVIH). The CIVVIH played an active part in identifying project managers and participating in the project’s steering committee. 

The purpose of this compilation of case studies is to encourage cities and World Heritage sites to share their practices and issues in a concrete way, as well as to reinforce the importance of taking heritage values into account as an initial step in urban development projects.

The project report comes in two parts – Volume I being an analytical report and Volume II the collection of fact-sheets for the 40 case studies. Volume I currently exists in French and Volume II has an introduction in French and fact-sheets written in the working language of the participating cities (English, French or Spanish). The two volumes are currently being translated by the OWHC and the final translated version will be posted on the OWHC website in 2013.

The analytical report and the collection of case studies of the “Historic cities in development: keys for understanding and action” project is currently available on the UNESCO World Heritage web site on the pages dedicated to the France-UNESCO Convention activities . Access the site in French or English

The two online pdf Volumes benefit of an interactive index which allows you to directly access individual parts of each document. Hyperlinks guide you to relevant parts of the World Heritage Convention, the web sites of project partners and the World Heritage sites concerned.