Revealing the cultural significance of historic urban landscapes

: Valparaiso as case study

Abstract

This paper starts with introducing several recent notions dedicated to the protection and management of world heritage cities. It introduces and discuss the gaps in the field of heritage impact assessment, with particular attention for cultural significance assessments and their methods. A practical framework is defined to perform cultural significance assessments in historic urban landscapes. To illustrate its application, Valparaiso is taken as case study, revealing the evolution of its cultural significance in time, and throughout the varied official documents. This is part of a broader research, targeting a better understanding of (incremental) change agents and their impact in the cultural significance of historic urban landscapes. In the paper the importance of the official documents, including the statement of Outstanding Universal Value, and regular evaluation of the state of conservation of properties are stressed. A focus is made on the attribute vernacular architecture where through fieldwork is made an attempt to reveal its state of authenticity and integrity. With the goal to dedicate to a better protection of heritage the relevance of the research is for society and science.

Date of Award	31 Aug 2013
Original language	English
Supervisor	Bernard J.F. Colenbrander (Supervisor 1), A.R. Roders (Supervisor 2) & L. Veldpaus (Supervisor 2)