ICOMOS is ready for WUF10!

Showcasing Cultural Heritage in the urbanism community

Convened by UN-Habitat, the biennial World Urban Forum is the foremost international gathering for exchanging views and experiences on sustainable urbanization; this year, the WUF theme is ‘Cities of opportunities – Connecting Culture and Innovation’.

Responding to this unique opportunity to raise the profile of cultural heritage in the urbanism community, ICOMOS will be represented both institutionally and through the diverse roles played by its participating members, such as coordinator/member of the Climate Heritage Network (CHN), the ICOMOS Climate Change and Heritage Working Group (CCHWG) and the ICOMOS Sustainable Development Goals Working Group (SDGWG).

The Climate Heritage Network, coordinated by the ICOMOS CCHWG, will be particularly active, with a suite of sessions including a Networking Event, Special Session, a Planners 4 Climate Action training events and others.

ICOMOS SDGWG will also have a chance to showcase some of its activities related to urban heritage and sustainability, in particular through its collaboration with United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), which includes the report “Culture in the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda”, jointly prepared by ICOMOS, UCLG, the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) and other members of the Culture 2030 Goal Campaign Network.

The ICOMOS Delegation to the WUF10 includes: Peter Phillips (Secretary General/ Australia), Amel Chabbi (UAE), Ana Pereira Roders (ICOMOS SDGWG member/ Netherlands), Andrew Potts (ICOMOS CCHWG Coordinator/ USA), Claus-Peter Echter (ICOMOS CIVVIH President, ICOMOS SDGWG member/ Germany), Donovan Rypkema (ICOMOS SDGWG member/ USA), Ege Yildirim (ICOMOS SDGWG Focal Point/ Turkey), Eman Assi (UAE), Eric Huybrechts (CHN & ICOMOS SDGWG member/ France), Jeff Soule (ICOMOS World Urban Campaign Focal Point/ USA), Julianne Polanco (CHN member/ USA).

A great contribution

Here is a list of WUF10 events, either organised by ICOMOS working groups or with contributions from ICOMOS members :

Saturday, February 8:

• World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments, where Peter Phillips will be taking the floor as respondent in the 1st Roundtable on “The role of urban and territorial policies in preserving cultural heritage”

Sunday, February 9:

• Special Session “Urban Culture and Climate Change Action: The intersection of urban cultural heritage and climate change”, with closing remarks by Andrew Potts
• Networking Event 16, “Heritage Beyond History, Towards A Sustainable And inclusive Historic Urban Core”, with Ana Pereira Roders among speakers.

Monday, February 10:

• Side Event 39, “Measuring and Communicating Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Urban Development: good practices and global perspectives of Riyadh Museum District Youth Challenger”, co-organized by Ege Yildirim with Ana Laura Petrucci of Dar al Uloom University, with Jeff Soule among speakers
• Networking Event 59, “Culture2030goal: Strengthening the global platform on culture and the SDGs”, organized by UCLG, with Ege Yildirim among speakers
• Networking Event 62, “Smart Cities Hold the Key to Sustainable Urbanisation – How Cultural Heritage Integrate into Smart City Environment”, organized by PLANMalaysia, with Peter Phillips among speakers
• “Culture and innovation in buildings – for a world below 2°C.”, Andrew Potts among speakers.

Tuesday, February 11:

• Dialogue 3 on “Tradition and Modernity: A creative convergence for sustainable cities”, with Julianne Polanco and Ege Yildirim among speakers
• Networking Event 89, “Mobilizing Arts, Culture and Heritage for Transformative Climate Action in Cities and their Territories”, organised by the CHN, with Andrew Potts, Eric Huybrechts, Jeff Soule and Julianne Polanco among speakers.
• Networking Event 105, “Worldwide Cultural Institutions Between Universal and Territorial” organized by the French Ministry of Culture, with Ege Yildirim among speakers

Wednesday, February 12:

• Dialogue 5 on “Urban Planning and Heritage Preservation – Regeneration”, with Donovan Rypkema among speakers
• Habitat Professionals Forum Roundtable, where Eric Huybrechts will be moderator of the group for UNH Strategic Plan- Domain of change 2: Shared Prosperity of cities and regions, while Ege Yildirim will be rapporteur of the group for UNH Strategic Plan- Domain of change 4: Urban Crisis Prevention and Response. (ICOMOS is standing for the position of Co-Chair at the HPF elections, which will be held during WUF10, as well.)

Throughout WUF10, ICOMOS member Donovan Rypkema and his colleagues at Heritage Strategies International will participate in the WUF10 Urban Expo, at booth H9-32. Also, Eric Huybrechts will represent the L’Institut Paris Region, Jeff Soule the American Planning Association, and Amel Chabbi the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, which will have their own events during the Forum.

Last but not least, ICOMOS is set to deepen its partnership with UN-Habitat on the occasion of WUF10, through a Memorandum of Understanding to be signed during the Forum, creating a wide framework for collaboration between the two organizations, targeting the following:

• Policy inputs on urban heritage in global and local guidelines, legislation, plans and projects;
• Knowledge on the relation between culture/heritage and cities/territories;
• Active partnership within existing UN-Habitat frameworks;
• Pilot joint projects on customizable solutions for heritage conservation;
• Monitoring processes and data on heritage management.

We hope you can catch some of the exciting WUF10 events online – WUF proceedings will be livestreamed at UN Web TV.