A 1-day event aimed at people involved in the planning system within World Heritage Sites, including Planners, Conservation Officers, WHS Co-ordinators and Councillors.

The event, which is being held at two alternative venues, has been organised jointly by the Local Authority World Heritage Forum (LAWHF), English Heritage and ICOMOS-UK.

The Telford event will be chaired by Gillian Clarke, Secretary of LAWHF and the Newcastle upon Tyne event by Susan Denyer, Secretary of ICOMOS-UK.

For more information please e-mail jbl.telshrops@blueyonder.co.uk or telephone Jonathan Lloyd on 01952 587615

Download the programme and booking form

Please join an evening looking at contemporary architecture in the context of a World Heritage City with a special guest from Canada, Herb Stovel, an expert on World Heritage matters, to speak about his experiences with the changing landscape of international world heritage cities.

Please contact Glasgow City Heritage Trust on 0141 552 1331 to reserve your place (limited spaces available).

Maritime Greenwich World Heritage site

In celebration of 2009 “International Sites and Monuments Day”

WORLD HERITAGE AND SCIENCE

Some of the presentations are now available online – see below.

One Day Workshop 7th May 2009, 10am-4pm

Venue: The Museum of the Order of St John
St John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, London EC1M 4DA   

The history of the development of science and its application through technology is as important as any other part of our heritage to an understanding of the nature of modern human existence.

Many scientific achievements such as agriculture and industrialisation have been recognised on the World Heritage List, while other areas relating to scientific knowledge are under-represented, particularly the natural sciences (physical sciences including astronomy, chemistry, and geology, and biological sciences).

A distinguished panel of speakers explored these issues and highlight the wealth of associations between milestones in scientific thought and World Heritage and Tentative list sites in the UK.

The Programme included:

Prof. Alec Boksenberg, Chair UK UNESCO: What are the key scientific ideas we should be capturing?

Prof. Frank James, Chair of Science & Technology Network, Royal Institution: Understanding the development of ideas through physical evidence

Susan Denyer, World Heritage Advisor, ICOMOS & Secretary ICOMOS-UK: Acknowledging scientific ideas associated with World Heritage Sites

James Simpson, Partner, Simpson & Brown Architects:
Edinburgh and the Scottish enlightenment

Prof. David Mabberley, Keeper of the Herbarium, Library, Art & Archives, Kew: Kew Gardens and the evolution of plant classification

Prof. Adrian Phillips, former Chair of IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas: Landscapes that reflect Darwin’s evolutionary ideas

Prof. Hugh Torrens, Emeritus Professor of History of Science and Technology, Keele University: Dorset & East Devon Coast, Giant’s Causeway and the History of Geological Science

Prof. Ian Wood, Professor of Early Medieval History, University of Leeds:
Monkwearmouth & Jarrow and the early scientific ideas of the venerable Bede

Dr Rebekah Higgitt, Curator of Science & Technology, National Maritime Museum: Greenwich as a centre for the development of horological/ astronomical thinking

Contact:
Camilla Massara
Events Co-ordinator
ICOMOS-UK
Tel: 0207 566 0031
camillamassara@icomos-uk.org
 

This event was organised in collaboration with The Museum of the Order of St John

Launched in 1996 and issued every two years, the World Monuments Watch calls international attention to cultural heritage around the world that is threatened by neglect, vandalism, conflict, or disaster. The 2010 Watch will continue this tradition of identifying endangered sites, while also encompassing sites with compelling issues or progressive approaches that could inform the field at large.

Watch listing provides an opportunity for sites and their nominators to raise public awareness, foster local participation, advance innovation and collaboration, and demonstrate effective solutions. The Watch nomination process also serves as a vehicle for requesting WMF assistance for select projects.

Since the program’s inception, 544 sites have been included on the seven Watches. Nearly half the listed sites, representing 79 countries, have received WMF grants totaling $50 million. These WMF monies have leveraged an additional $150 million in assistance from other sources.

As the flagship advocacy program of the World Monuments Fund, the Watch is emblematic of WMF’s commitment to inspiring heritage stewardship, forging partnerships, and advancing conservation.

In sponsoring the Watch program, WMF seeks to highlight emerging issues and opportunities in the field, confront urgent challenges, foster community engagement, and build capacities and constituencies for sustaining heritage protection in the long-term.

For more information: http://www.wmf.org/watch.html

Stenness, Orkney; Copyright: Historic Scotland

Scottish Ministers announced today their decision to refuse planning permission for the proposed development of three wind turbines at Merranblo, Stromness, Orkney. The application was considered at a local public inquiry in January 2008. ICOMOS-UK appeared at the inquiry along with other organisations, such as Historic Scotland, Orkney Archaeological Trust, Orkney Skyline Concern and Scottish Natural Heritage.

The World Heritage Site (WHS) in Orkney was inscribed on the World Heritage List as “a major prehistoric cultural landscape that provides a graphic depiction of life in a remote archipelago in the far north of Scotland some 5,000 years ago. [...] The monuments of Orkney, dating back to 3000-2000 BC, are outstanding testimony to the cultural achievements of the Neolithic peoples of northern Europe” (UNESCO World Heritage Centre). At the Inquiry ICOMOS-UK expressed concern about the adverse impact of the turbines on the historic environment of the WHS and its setting, as we believed that the site of the proposed development was located within the area of visual impact of the WHS.

The World Heritage Convention in 1972 was set out to identify, protect and preserve for future generations cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding universal value to humanity. ICOMOS-UK believed that the erection of the proposed wind turbines would compromise this very sensitive Scottish landscape and therefore have a detrimental impact on the outstanding universal value for which the WHS was inscribed in 1999.

The report by the Scottish Ministers concluded that “given the international importance of the cultural heritage resources of the area [...] the objective of preserving these monuments within an appropriate setting is consistent with the fundamental objectives of national policy”.

A Joint conference organised by the Royal Town Planning Institute, Royal Institute of British Architects and the Belper Civic Forum. This significant annual conference will be held in Belper to closely examine problems such as the conflict between economic development and conservation in a World Heritage Site context. Concessions available for local residents and Civic Forum members.

“New Challenges in Urban Design” Conference Poster

Conference Booking Form

The Bath Chronicle reported that Dyson abandoned his plan after the Government’s rejection of a funding proposal and after facing a planning inquiry last August, which was called due to opposition from the Environment Agency.

The school had originally been due to open this autumn. Read full article on the Bath school plans.

5^th to 10^th April 2009, Hanoi, Republic of Viet Nam

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Hanoi People’s Committee, Hanoi University of Architecture (HAU), the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) and the Organizing Committee are pleased to announce the forthcoming 12^th FUUH International Seminar to be held at the National Convention Center (NCC) in Hanoi, Republic of Viet Nam, on the following theme:

“HISTORIC URBAN LANSCAPES: A NEW CONCEPT? A NEW CATEGORY OF WORLD HERITAGE SITES?”

The CALL FOR PAPERS and all relevant information is available on the seminar website:

http://universityandheritage.net/hanoi_seminar_2009

For further information, please contact with the seminar secretary:

2009seminar@fuuh.upv.es

]]> http://blog.icomos-uk.org/2008/10/08/historic-urban-landscapes-a-new-concept-a-new-category-of-world-heritage-sites/feed/ 0 icomos-uk http://blog.icomos-uk.org/2008/09/24/scottish-world-heritage-sites-in-the-wider-european-context/ http://blog.icomos-uk.org/2008/09/24/scottish-world-heritage-sites-in-the-wider-european-context/#comments Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:33:24 +0000 icomos-uk http://icomosuk.wordpress.com/?p=891 ]]> A series of four illustrated lectures and discussion

28 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, at 5.45 for 6.00pm (to end by 8.00pm)

The Antonine Wall

Tuesday 7 October 2008

Dr David Breeze (Historic Scotland) on “The Antonine Wall and its relevance to the wider European definition of the boundaries of the Roman Empire”

Tuesday 18 November 2008:

Robin Turner, Head of Archaeology at the National Trust for Scotland, will describe the process of submitting St Kilda for the double nomination of both cultural and natural values, and will set this in the context of other similar sites.

Tuesday 20 January 2009:

Adam Wilkinson, Director, Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, will discuss the issues for the management and enhancement of the central core of the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh within the wider city, and its broader social and economic planning framework, with reference to other similar World Heritage cities in Europe.

Tuesday 17 February 2009:

Dr James Arnold, Director of New Lanark Heritage Trust, will speak about the mixed use of the World Heritage Site with its social, economic and historical values, and will make comparisons with other similar multi-use sites in other parts of Europe.

Spaces at each lecture/discussion will be limited, and early reservation of places is recommended (contact Lester Borley: e-mail: lesterborley@waitrose.com or tel: 0131332 2364).

Cost for each lecture is £5 (Europa Nostra UK or NTS member) or £7 (non-members), to include a glass of wine at the conclusion of each event.

“World heritage status, enjoyed by 885 sites on the planet, means absolutely nothing” and goes on with: “The decline of British urban design is a mystery. Projects that would not survive a minute in other European cities must be fought line by line through British planning committees, public inquiries and courts.”

Read the full article by Simon Jenkins

Read ICOMOS-UK’s response

We welcome your comments on this story below.