From July 19 to 22, on the first anniversary of Quanzhou to be listed as the World Heritage, the first International Symposium on Sustainable Conservation and Development of World Heritage Cities was held in Quanzhou co-organized by the Asian Academy for Heritage Management, the School of Architecture, Southeast University and the Academic Committee of Urban Planning History and Theory of the Urban Planning Society of China, and Quanzhou Urban Planning Design Group Co. The symposium explored the policy framework and roadmap for sustainable conservation and development of historic and cultural cities as well as world heritage cities in the new stage of urbanization.
2022 is the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the System for Famous Historic and Cultural Cities in China and the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Convention of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Quanzhou, as one of the first group of national historic and cultural cities and a new world heritage city, has made important contributions to the creation of urban conservation and management with local characteristics over the decades, providing valuable experience for the improvement and development of the famous city system in China, and is also actively exploring the path for nomination for world cultural heritage and work together with other world heritage cities.
The symposium was held online and offline at the exhibition hall inside the Site of Southern Clan Office which is one of the 22 World Heritage sites of Quanzhou. A total of 110,000 people watched the cloud-based live broadcast online.
Dr. Duong Bich Hanh, Chief of Cultural affairs of UNESCO Bangkok, Mr. Meng Jianmin, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Mr. Zhang Bing, Director of the Bureau of Territorial Spatial Planning of the Ministry of Natural Resources, delivered online speeches. Dr. Hanh firstly affirmed the contribution of Asian Academy for Heritage Management to the conference, and pointed out that in the post-epidemic era, Quanzhou, as the world heritage, should focus on the impact of climate change, rapid urbanization and natural disasters. Quanzhou should aim at sustainable development conservation, enhance the human living environment, and treat the city as a community for overall conservation. At the same time, she hoped that Quanzhou could learn from the experience of heritage conservation management from other coastal cities in the follow-up conservation actions, and gradually enhance its influence in Asia and the world.
Academician Meng Jianmin pointed out that Quanzhou, as a city surrounded by the Quanzhou bay and facing the sea, has the characteristics of a life community of mountain, water and city. In the future, Quanzhou should focus on the intermingling of coastal space development, waterfront life and diversified Maritime Silk Road culture, as well as the creation of a model city for high-quality development, and the improvement of the spatial governance around the bay, thus improving the influence of Quanzhou, as the World Heritage City.
Dr. Zhang Bing, Director of the Bureau of Territorial Spatial Planning of the Ministry of Natural Resources, pointed out that under the new planning system, the sustainable development of World Heritage Cities should be studied and considered in a new spatial dimension based on unified base map, unified standards, unified planning and unified platform. Specifically, this includes deepening and refining the relevant management requirements on a unified digital platform, closely integrating and studying the World Heritage conservation plan with the urban and rural territorial spatial plan comprehensively, and so on.
During the symposium, experts and scholars from different countries discussed four topics: "Protection and coping strategies of coastal heritage cities under climate change", "The significance and value of coastal historical landscape for sustainable urban and rural development", "International cooperation for the conservation and development of coastal heritage cities in the context of urbanization in Asia", and "Quanzhou World Heritage City from the perspective of mutual learning among civilizations: characteristics and models".
Mr. Li Boqun, Director of Quanzhou Cultural Broadcasting and Tourism Bureau, gave a keynote speech, arguing that "we should always keep the core consciousness of the ancient city, that is, we must let life here can be maintained, so that production and business can be carried out, and there is development of vitality and energy. We will follow the requirements of the municipal government, strengthen the industry and the development of the city at the same time, hold a responsible attitude to protect the history, the city, the enterprise, the masses, and make every effort to build a model city of World Heritage conservation and utilization."
Dr. Richard Engelhardt, founder of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation and guest professor of Southeast University, proposed strategies for the challenges faced by global coastal cities from an international perspective. He did a deep analysis on conservation experiences and case studies from many other countries. He pointed out that development of Quanzhou World Heritage City is a part of integrated approach of Asian heritage conservation and development, and discussed the issues both Quanzhou World Heritage and the historic city faced from a global perspective.
Mr. Jiang Bo, vice president of ICOMOS, vice chairman of ICOMOS-CHINA and distinguished professor of the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Shandong University, made the four points on the topic of "Ports, Cities and World Heritage Conservation": Firstly, as an international platform, seaport sites are a window for interpreting the exchange between eastern and western civilizations. Secondly, one of the important features of seaport sites is their cultural diversity and representativeness; Thirdly, it is the common responsibility of human beings to protect this type of heritage; Fourthly, it is our joint duty to pay attention to the sustainable development of Quanzhou World Heritage City and the promotion of its conservation concepts.
Mr. Laurence Loh, Principal of Arkitek LLA Malaysia, and winner of UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation, presented thoughts on the conservation and development of Penang World Heritage City from two perspectives: environmental change and climate change, and put forward his thinking through the interpretation of specific cases. He emphasized that Quanzhou and Penang had a strong historic relationship and willing to make contribution for Quanzhou on heritage conservation.
Mr.Ju Dedong, Director of the Institute of Historic Cities of China Academy of Urban Planning & Design and Secretary General of Heritage Planning Committee, UPSC, used specific planning and design projects to interpret the conservation and revitalization of the ancient city of Quanzhou at macro, meso and micro levels.
Dr. Zhang Jie, Dean of School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture and Professor of School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, presented a systematic review of the establishment of the system of historic cities in China, the evolution of theoretical approaches to holistic conservation, the legal and regulatory system and practice process. At the same time, he proposed a holistic approach to the conservation of historical and cultural heritage from value assessment to multiple spatial levels by combining years of practice.
Dr. Dong Wei, Professor of School of Architecture, Southeast University and head of secretariat of UNESCO-ICCROM Asian academy for Heritage Management (AAHM), with the topic of "Conserving and Developing Quanzhou Historic City by Inheriting Its Living Cultural Context and Heritage", systematically sorted out the historical and cultural characteristics of Quanzhou, analyzed five aspects of the old city, such as the regional pattern and the context of old city. He also proposed ideas and opinions on the preservation and inheritance of Quanzhou's history and culture in the post-epidemic and after to be listed as a world heritage, as well as on the construction of the exhibition system and demonstration zones.
Ms. Fu Jing, Deputy director of Institute of Architectural History, China Architecture Design and Research Group, presents the management approaches on world heritage by introducing the key challenges faced by Quanzhou before and after to be the world heritage. She deemed that "the World Heritage List is not really concerned with the number of properties, but with ensuring the effective conservation of the inscribed properties. A successful inscription is only a new start, the key is how to promote sustainable conservation and development of Quanzhou World Heritage City.
Prof. Manish Chakraborti, Dean of School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Sister Nivedita University, India, presented on "Nivedita Conservation Leads Urban Development", proposing measures to preserve historical and cultural heritage under complex constraints.
At the end of the agenda, the experts had a dialogue session and contributed their wisdom to the future development of Quanzhou World Heritage City in further discussions.
Now, Quanzhou is actively working on becoming a model city for World Heritage conservation and utilization. The success of this international symposium provides important guidance to promote the sustainable conservation and development of Quanzhou, a World Heritage City. In the future, the Asian Academy for Heritage Management will take active steps to organize a series of academic activities on historic cities and heritage conservation under the framework of UNESCO, contributing to the conservation of historic cities in Asia.
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