‘Culture : Urban Future’ - The Role of Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Local Development

The side event ‘Culture : Urban Future’ – The Role of Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Local Development will discuss the role of cultural heritage for sustainable urban development, over a working lunch, within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda.

In an effort to address the rising challenges of the increasingly urbanized world, the UNESCO Global Report, Culture: Urban Future, published in October 2016, explores the role of culture for sustainable urban development and provided concrete guidelines and good practices for local and national authorities and civil society, to integrate culture into urban policies as a unique resource for urban regeneration and innovation, and social, economic and environmental development.

The UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL), adopted in 2011, features largely in this report, as it represents a landmark guideline to achieve an integrated approach to cultural heritage conservation for sustainable urban development, reaching beyond traditional efforts that limit conservation to the monuments and physical elements of historic centres.

The side event will also be an opportunity to enlarge the UNESCO Urban Network on Culture which was launched in January 2017 to contribute to the implementation of the recommendations of the UNESCO Global Report.