Integrating culture in post-crisis urban recovery: Reflections on the power of cultural heritage to deal with crisis

Abstract

Crisis disrupt people lives. Either if they are caused by disasters due to natural hazards, conflict situations, or diseases outbreaks, crisis affect livelihoods, economies, and social and personal welfare. The role of culture and cultural heritage to deal with these situations has been often underestimated. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is showing the importance of relying and using culture to help people handling difficult experiences. Likewise, culture is being progressively integrated into post-crisis recovery process, as reflected in the Culture in City Reconstruction and Recovery (CURE) Framework developed by UNESCO and the World Bank, under the common understanding that culture is the foundation on which cities are built. This paper will present some key aspects from this approach to integrate culture both as an asset and as a tool, in urban recovery processes, including some challenges such as the application of the build back better principle to cultural heritage contexts, as well as some reflections on their use during ongoing crisis.