Book - Heritage as an Asset for Inner-City Development

Cultural heritage is playing an increasingly emphatic role in the development of the contemporary city, especially in cities such as Istanbul.

It is an important location-determining factor for a new generation of city dwellers, newly developing companies in the service sector and creative industries and also for recreation and tourism. At the same time, unrestrained urban growth is putting historic inner cities under increasingly greater pressure. Accordingly, it is time for a new orientation toward the historic city.

How do we utilize a city’s existing qualities for a vital future? How do we reverse the increasing threats that can be felt in all historical inner cities? What is the economic significance of heritage for a city that wants progress? What possibilities and limitations does heritage offer for the challenges we continually face in our design assignments?

Heritage As an Asset for Inner City Development draws on the broad experience of teachers and participants in the Urban Heritage Strategies course and takes you on a fascinating trip to eight cities around the world: Accra, Jaffna, Moscow, Paramaribo, Pretoria, Pulicat, Recife and Surabaya. Each in their own way, these cities all have historical tie with the Netherlands.The book gives insight and ideas on how cities can deal with urban growth that is pressuring historic inner cities.

This book is the upshot of the first Course on Urban Heritage Strategies that was organised by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands and the IHS – the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam.

The book is available through NAI Booksellers.