Urban heritage is what makes our cities and communities unique. It’s a reflection of its citizens' identity and the layers of history and time. The Urban Heritage Strategies short course, offered by IHS and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), focuses on teaching a better understanding of the complex relationship between urban development and heritage management. We interviewed three of this year's participants, who shared their experiences and main takeaways from the course.
More about the city profiles
This year’s course is tailored around historic Ukrainian cities that are currently under military threats and development pressure. The participants focused on the case studies of Kharkiv, Odessa, and Vysokopillia. Situated in the heart of Europe, Ukraine is home to seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites, such as the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, the Odessa Historical City Centre, the wooden churches of the Slovak Carpathians, and many more.
Case study 1: Kharkiv
Kharkiv was founded in the 17th century as a fortress and has become a major cultural, scientific, educational, transport, and industrial centre of Ukraine. There are hundreds of industrial facilities like the Malyshev Factory or the Morozov Design Bureau, and important landmarks like the Annunciation Cathedral, the Freedom Square, the Software and Computer museum, and the list goes on.
Case study 2: Odessa
Odessa is one of the major ports in Ukraine and the operational hub of the Ukrainian Navy. The city is also known to be a large industrial centre. Additionally, it is home to an opera and ballet theatre, as well as a harbour further to the south where resorts have become popular.
Case study 3: Vysokopillia
Vysokopillia is a human settlement in Ukraine that was founded as a German colony in 1869. In the past, it was an administrative centre of the Vysokopillia Raion, but nowadays, it has been merged with the Beryslav Raion.
Insights from the course participants
Dana Khushman
The primary focus of Dana's group was on urban planning and heritage preservation. This helped her gain knowledge on strategic action planning and how to create rehabilitation plans for future reference. When asked about the main takeaways from the course, Dana shared the importance of understanding the relationship between urban development and heritage preservation.
“The main takeaway from the course is that it provides a comprehensive understanding of real strategic action planning, which is linked to urban development and heritage preservation.”
Svetlana Sukhanova
Svetlana and her group focused on the benefits of strategic planning for the community of Odessa. Strategic planning is a key to moulding the future of urban areas, which is why the team explored multiple successful and unsuccessful examples to learn about different challenges and objectives that organisations are facing. Svetlana learnt many things during the course, but what she will take away is the importance of strategic planning and why it is essential for organisations to achieve their long-term goals.
“We discussed the key components of a strategic plan, that is: mission statement, vision statement, values, objectives, and goals, and we were trying to imagine how it can work in our city.”
Liza Goncharenko
Liza shared that one of the issues they studied with her group was "urbicide" in Kharkiv, or the intentional destruction of urban heritage, landscapes, and architecture. This is how she learned about emergency response planning, a useful tactic for preserving cultural assets in conflict areas. Her teammates were from various backgrounds, and she felt lucky to work in a transdisciplinary group.
“I learnt about effective strategies to protect cultural heritage in war zones, such as emergency response planning and community engagement."
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- More information
For more information about the course, please visit our webpage Urban Heritage Strategies.