Celebrating Our Urban Heritage
The physical and cultural
legacy of urban regions is a valuable asset to be preserved, enhanced, and
honored. This precious legacy connects history
to future generations, enables broad-based sustainable prosperity, and
emphasizes quality of life as a key building block for economic well-being,
environmental health, and social vitality.
The competitive advantage of places - what makes them attractive and
special - is the character and spirit of community that is embedded in our
history. The rapid pace of change in the
21st century underscores the need to conserve the treasures of the past, and to
pay homage to the dynamic evolution of human ingenuity and urban civilization
over many centuries. Market systems are
increasingly reflecting greater respect for the value of what is old and
traditional. Global Urban Development
works on projects that highlight the economic, social, and sustainable importance
of, and encourage public and private investment in: preserving historic
buildings and districts, celebrating ethnic and cultural diversity, promoting
heritage tourism, and appreciating recreation and nature. Many of these projects emphasize citizen
participation, civic activism, and community-based initiatives, from arts
festivals and crafts fairs to architecture museums and neighborhood walking
tours.
This GUD program committee continues
to work on creating greater understanding among policymakers and investors of
GUD's decade-long project on "Urban Heritage as an Economic Asset." The
committee produced an edited volume on Urban
Heritage published in August 2008 as a special issue of GUD Magazine. This project
was initiated by the committee, and the magazine’s editors are the committee’s
three co-chairs, Luigi Fusco Girard, Donovan Rypkema,
and Belinda Yuen, together with Marc Weiss and Nancy Sedmak-Weiss. Several members of the committee on
Celebrating Our Urban Heritage contributed articles to this special issue of GUD Magazine, including Robert
Freestone, Donovan Rypkema, Kathryn Smith, and Pablo Vaggione.
Currently
GUD is working with the International Scientific Committee on the Economics of
Conservation (ISCEC) of the International Council on Monuments and Sites
(ICOMOS) to produce a special issue of the Journal of Cultural Heritage
Management and Sustainable Development. The Co-Editors of this special issue are GUD
Advisory Board member Christer Gustafsson and GUD Board member Don Rypkema.
Celebrating
Our Urban Heritage Committee
Co-Chairs: Luigi Fusco Girard, Donovan Rypkema, and Belinda Yuen
DeWayne Anderson
Kael Anderson
Uri Avin
Vinayak Bharne
Cid
Blanco Jr.
Margaret Caust
Simon Cavelle
Louise Cox
Storm Cunningham
Hank Dittmar
Robert Fishman
Fabiana Forte
Robert Freestone
Jorge Gaspar
Paige Glotzer
Martin Greenfield
Christer Gustafsson
Vladimir Ira
Kenneth Jackson
Kate Joncas
Ritu George Kaliaden
Fred Kent
Mona Khechen
Benjamin Kuras
Randolph Langenbach
Keith Laughlin
Stella Madrid
Emil Malizia
Derek Martin
Robert McNulty
Steven Miller
Zane Miller
Karen Moon
Elizabeth Morton
Christiane Nasser
Henrik Nolmark
Erik Pages
Deependra Prashad
James Ragan
Maria Rosario
Laura Lee Ross
Stuart Rowlands
Kathryn Smith
Jeffrey Soule
Jacques Teller
David
Throsby
Pablo Vaggione
Emily Wadhams
Carol Willis
Barbara Wolfson