This tour will explore four towns in the Republic sharing information and good practice on what makes a high quality place.

From contemporary lighting schemes and public realm design in Cork to the colourful shop fronts in Youghal, embedded in the towns history, and Waterford’s vision “ to create a framework of public and civic spaces of character and visual quality” in a medieval city known for its ancient City Walls and craftsmanship, and finally an international conference in Kilkenny Castle – “Serving people while preserving heritage” – which will bring together practitioners and representatives from policy making bodies.

Programme Details and Online Booking

Places are limited and bookings must be received by 12 June.

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).

Blackpool Blackpool’s special history is rooted in its significance as the world’s first working-class seaside resort and its development into a unique centre of popular entertainment.

Today, still synonymous with fun and excitement, Blackpool constitutes an exceptional cultural landscape – a living, evolving expression of the industrial archaeology of the popular seaside holiday.

 Although always at the forefront of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship (the town’s motto is ‘Progress’), Blackpool continues to retain its core identity and ambience and to sustain its distinctive atmosphere of revelry and participation, with an impressive array of surviving architectures, built environments and entertainment traditions dedicated to the provision of leisure and enjoyment. Blackpool is now at a critical point in its historical development, looking to reinvent itself through a new masterplan, pursued through the urban regeneration company ReBlackpool. The Blackpool Resort Masterplan sets out an ambitious vision that will transform the town by redefining Blackpool’s future as a top-quality, world-class resort destination, improving the lives of residents and visitors alike. The trick will be to combine modernisation and the search for new markets with an appeal to tradition, identity and the heritage of the recent past and to encourage high quality architecture and redevelopment that responds to and respects the history, heritage and special character of the place.

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2nd-3rd April 2009, University of Warwick

This conference will explore the concept of urban crises at a variety of scales. The theme is interpreted broadly to encompass not only those crises relating to urban growth, but also the way that individuals and institutions in cities experience and manage such events. It also invites papers that seek to explore the way that crises can generate new opportunities in the urban context.

Until relatively recently, historians have primarily considered cities in the context of growth – in relation to population increase, economic expansion and opportunity, political freedoms, social liberation and cultural formation. As recent events in the global economy have highlighted, however, growth is not necessarily always the case. Downturns in economic activity, shifts in the organisational structure of capitalism, changes and restrictions in personal freedoms, and cultural conservatism at times have been as important in structuring cities and urban life. How have these crises impacted on cities and what role have cities played in generating these crises? What opportunities arise in the wake of crises? What kinds of institutional arrangements emerged to manage such crises and how effective have they been in responding to the changes they faced? How have individuals experienced those crises and in what way have they responded both as individuals and collectivities? What forms of assistance and institutions developed to manage such a range of personal crises?

Registration and programme details

Contact details:

Centre for Urban History
University of Leicester
Marc Fitch House
3-5 Salisbury Road
Leicester, LE1 7QR  – UK
t: +44 (0)116 252 2378
f: +44 (0)116 252 5769
E-mail: cuh@le.ac.uk

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

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/2008/09/18/simon-jenkins-on-wolrd-heritage-in-the-uk/ http://blog.icomos-uk.org/2008/09/18/simon-jenkins-on-wolrd-heritage-in-the-uk/#comments Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:29:49 +0000 icomos-uk http://icomosuk.wordpress.com/?p=862 ]]> Simon Jenkins (The Guardian) wrote on Friday 12th September 2008 a critical article on the current condition of World Heritage Status in the UK, challenging new British developments and questioning the role that UNESCO is playing in preserving these sites and their context. He claims,

“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.

ISUF (International Seminar on Urban Form) is the international organization of urban form researchers and practitioners. It was inaugurated in 1994, bringing together urban morphologists worldwide. It seeks to advance research and practice in fields concerned with the built environment. Its members are drawn from several disciplines, including architecture, geography, history, sociology and town planning. It promotes conferences, publishes a journal Urban Morphology and provides an international framework for communication between members.

The Sixteenth International Seminar on Urban Form (ISUF 2009), co-hosted by South China University of Technology and Guangzhou Urban Planning Bureau, will take place in Guangzhou, China from Friday 4 September to Monday 7 September 2009.

The theme of the conference is Urban morphology and urban transformation. The organizers and the Council of ISUF invite participation in the Conference by interested academics and professionals. Topics on which proposals are particularly welcome include:

• Urban morphological theory
• Urban morphology, planning and design
• Urban morphology and architectural design
• New developments in research on building typology
• Typological research, planning and design
• Cities in transition
• Cities in a global era
• Urban form in Asia
• Traditional urban form
• Urban heritage and change
• Geospatial technology in urban morphology

Proposals for papers should take the form of abstracts of papers, in either English or Chinese. They should be prepared in the following format: title of paper, author(s) name, affiliation, address, e-mail address, telephone number, key words and 250-word abstract. They should be addressed to Professor Yinsheng Tian, Department of Architecture, College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, P. R. China (e-mail: ISUF2009@scut.edu.cn). Abstracts of papers must be received on or before 31 December 2008. Notification of whether abstracts have been accepted will be provided by 1 March 2009. Those whose abstracts have been accepted will be required to pay a registration fee by 15 June 2009 to have their papers included in the conference programme. The registration fee includes membership of ISUF, and conference lunches and dinners.

For more information please click here

October 9-10 2008, Regent’s College London

With a Government commitment to build three million homes by 2020, the conference will stimulate debate on the importance of good quality landscape in housing developments and in creating sustainable communities.

Speakers include Professor Robert Tregay of LDA Design, architect and urban designer Terry Farrell, Director of CABE Space Sarah Gaventa, Chief Executive of The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust Karin Woodley, Director of External Affairs at the House Builders Federation John Slaughter, Senior Lecturer at Sheffield University Helen Woolley and Landscape Regeneration Manager at the Peabody Trust Group Matthew Frith. A mixture of plenary sessions, keynote speeches and seminars will bring together experts from across the built environment professions. A range of site visits to innovative housing schemes in London will also take place.

For a full programme along with details about the site visits and seminars, plus costs and booking forms, please visit www.liconferences.org or telephone 020 7299 4500.

The Landscape Institute is the professional body and regulator for landscape architecture. Under its Royal Charter the Landscape Institute is charged with protecting, conserving and enhancing the natural and built environment for the benefit of the public.

Landscape architecture is the profession best able to provide a holistic approach to creating places where people want to live and work both now and in the future. The Landscape Institute promotes landscape architecture as the environment and design profession, one that works with communities to create places that respect their environmental context and contribute to a high quality of life.

Contacts:

James Gosling, Media and Public Relations Officer

T: 020 7299 4528

E: jamesg@landscapeinstitute.org

Paul Lincoln, Director of Communications and Marketing

T: 020 7299 4500

E: paull@landscapeinstitute.org

11th, 18th & 25th September 2008

The 20th century saw the construction of buildings unlike any that had come before. War, politics, economics, innovations in production and materials and social change all played their part in shaping modern Britain. The legacy is large and whilst appreciation of the very best of buildings and designs of the period is now widespread, professionals and decision makers often lack specialist knowledge in this field which has become vital for conservation professionals to understand.

The Twentieth Century Society, Britain’s specialist conservation group on buildings after 1914, presents this comprehensive and practical course over three full days. It will offer an historical and architectural analysis of England’s 20th century building typres along with pracitial insights into their repair and conservation.

Leading academics and practitioners in the field will present the course; the lectures will be complemented by guided tours of some of the best examples of 20th century buildings in London. The course aims to meet the needs of architects, conservation officers, surveyors and academics, who are seeking an effective route to better understanding of the period, but it will be of interest to property owners and anyone with enthusiasm for these buildings.

For more information and booking please contact the Twentieth Century Society.