World Heritage Site Status Research Articles

Enabling Capabilities: Innovation and Development in the Outer Hebrides

The existing challenges to non-profit heritage organisations are increasing in these volatile and austere climates. Particularly, existing organisational and strategic mission developments are needed to enable more resilient organisations. This paper explores the relationship between Ionad Hiort and the Glasgow School of Art’s Institute of Design Innovation (INDI) as a six-month case study for understanding how design innovation can build creative capabilities within this unique partnership. In this case, the “building” of a new type of heritage centre on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. It focuses on the concept of innovation in approaching complex situations as an alternative to existing means of problem solving. Through a series of workshops and engaging informal sessions a new strategy was built, which focused the group’s potential. The outcome being a new way to build confidence within communities and build new relationships, enabling new creative capabilities within a rural island community.

Estimating the value of the World Heritage Site designation: a case study from Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) National Park, Nepal

ABSTRACT This paper estimates the economic value of World Heritage Site (WHS) designation for the Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) National Park, Nepal. In 2012, entrance fees were $30 per international visitor; lower fees apply to South Asian visitors, and no fees to domestic visitors. We surveyed 522 international visitors to the Park in 2011 to elicit their willingness to pay (WTP) for access, using the contingent valuation method. Logistic regression results show that bid amounts, gender, age, educational attainment, use of a guide, length of stay in the park, information about park substitutes, and knowledge about the park's WHS designation predicted visitors’ WTP decisions. The median WTP amount was US$90.93 per trip; 63.8% of visitors were willing to pay more than the existing entry fee. The revenue maximizing entry fee was $80 per trip. Knowledge about the park's WHS designation prior to their trip contributed $16.39 to the median WTP: better marketing of the site's WHS status could add up to US$ 566, 619 to the site's annual income. Given that many protected areas now suffer falling public sector financial help, accurate knowledge of WTP is increasingly key to supporting sustainable management in WHS sites, and in justifying tourism to them.

Remembering World War I: Memory Influences and Impact on Intentions to Visit War Heritage Sites

This paper presents partial results of a large-scale multi-lingual (English, French, German, and Dutch) international study conducted in 2012, resulting in responses from over 60 countries (n=2490). This paper provides analyses of data obtained from respondents in nine countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States), which were involved in and impacted by the First World War (WWI). Eight factors influencing respondents’ memories of WWI (school lessons, TV news and documentaries, Internet, literature/arts, visits to WWI sites, story-telling, inheritance of memorabilia, and WWI movies), and impact of five demographic variables (country-of-origin, age, gender, education, and emotional proximity to WWI) on these factors are analyzed. Also examined is if how the way memories of WWI are formed relates to one’s intentions to visit a WWI heritage site in the near future and how it impacts support for granting UNESCO’s World Heritage Site (WHS) status to WWI battle fields. Results indicate that the way memories of WWI are formed vary by all five demographic factors and indicate that both intentions to visit a WWI heritage site in the near future and support for granting WHS status to WWI battlefields are related to how memories of WWI are formed. Implications for development and marketing of WWI heritage sites as tourism attractions are also discussed.

Michael J. Walsh, Tamás Kiss and Nicholas S.H. Coureas (eds). The Harbour of all this Sea and Realm: Crusader to Venetian Famagusta

This volume derives from the editors’ desire to stimulate interest in the fascinating medieval town of Famagusta, located on the east coast of Cyprus, and to underpin the urgency in saving its valuable heritage. The book begins with a three-part multi-authored introduction by Michael Walsh, Tamás Kiss and Nicholas Coureas. Walsh’s section (pp. 3-8) highlights the precarious state of the walled city of Famagusta and the problems faced in preserving it. In 2008 it was placed on the international Watch List of Endangered Sites by the World Monuments Fund and the city remains ineligible to apply for UNESCO World Heritage Site status because of the current political situation.

Any old iron? Marketing models and sustainable regeneration in Ironbridge

The heritage offer at Ironbridge is long established: for over 50 years, the story has been told of innovation and technological development in the Ironbridge Gorge at the beginning of the industrial revolution. That story achieved even higher recognition over 25 years ago when the area was awarded World Heritage Site status, recognising its outstanding universal value of technological innovation. The heritage product at Ironbridge has changed in significant ways over time reflecting increased competition in the sector, the transformed expectations of the visitors and varied responses by the museum trust to political agendas to which the sector must respond in order to gain support for its activities. It is also demonstrable that the very success of Ironbridge has transformed the appearance, and demographics of this part of what were historically a fiercely working class East Shropshire coalfield. Not the least of the successes has been to turn the area into a desirable place to live again, but not for the working classes who have been superseded by a more affluent sector of society. The aim of this paper was to explore the nature of these changes and to provide an overview of how the perception of heritage in the area has shifted over time.

Geography of Religion in Japan: Religious Space, Landscape, and Behavior By KeisukeMatsui. New York: Springer, 2014. Pp. vii +199. Hardcover, $129.00.

The key and absolutely important premise of this book, as stated in its preface, is that “[t]o understand the function of religion it is essential to examine it in the context of local societies.” But what does this mean, and how does one go about doing it? The author argues that in geographical study of religion in Japan four common approaches are employed—studies focusing 1) on the relation of nature and environment, 2) on how religion shapes local society, organizations, and landscapes, 3) on pilgrimages to sacred places, and 4) thick descriptions of the structure of actual religious spaces—the web of landscape, temples and shrines, people, communities, and ritual activities that complexly coexist in a given sacred space. The study investigates each approach in turn, focusing on a specific Japanese sacred area for a detailed analysis of lived religion on the ground. Chapter 2 is a study of tree worship and forest culture at Suwa Taisha's Onbashira festival. Here the author builds on the famous thesis of Watsuji Tetsurō that Japanese climate (fudo) directly affects the structure of Japanese sacred landscapes. Chapter 3, which makes up most of the book, is a detailed study of the “belief areas,” that is, the different “zones” in the areas around a sacred space that are filled with their religious organizations and belief systems. He closely examines two Shintō shrines, Kasama Inari in Ibakaki prefecture and Kanamura shrine in Saitama prefecture. Chapter 4 looks at tourism and pilgrimage in the marketplace by focusing on the changing types of businesses at Narita Shinshiji-Monzenmachi, and how world heritage status has effected the revitalization of local communities in Japanese sacred areas. This is a data-rich study that shows the complexities of faith in local settings in Japan not only spatially, but temporally as well—as new global forces, like the possibility of receiving World Heritage Site Status, transform the way people understand local manifestations of the sacred as a cultural resource. This is definitely not a text for the classroom, but for serious researchers interested in Japanese religion, sacred geography, and pilgrimage and religious tourism.

World heritage site management: a case study of sacred sites and pilgrimage routes in the Kii mountain range, Japan

ABSTRACTThis research examines three themes: heritage management and conservation activities, local communities and tourism development in Kii World Heritage Site (WHS) after WHS designation. Kii is a cultural WHS having links with Japanese religions and consisting of shrines, temples and pilgrimage routes. This study inductively and qualitatively examines these three themes. Overall, the current status of Kii WHS is satisfactory. Local people, tourists/visitors and experts are all actively involved in heritage management and conservation activities. WHS listing seems to have enhanced local identity, increased local people's pride in their culture and place of residence, and triggered a revitalisation of local culture. Moreover, tourism's negative impacts appear to be minimal, despite an increase in the number of visitors since UNESCO inscription. There are a few issues to be improved, which derive mainly from a lack of understanding of WHS status or conflicts between heritage management/tourism and religious practices. A more holistic approach, such as establishing a forum consisting of all key stakeholders, would be useful for the further success of Kii WHS as a religious and sacred site, place to live and tourist destination.

Urban growth and cultural identity; fractures and imbalances in heritage values: A case study of the island of Saint-Louis, Senegal

The island of Saint-Louis of Senegal was awarded the status of world heritage site by UNESCO in 2000 as an “outstanding example” of urban heritage. This island city comes with a unique heritage: development planning that combines a strong historical French influence with a gridiron urban morphology and building typology. The island must be interpreted within its total territorial context that includes both the island of Sor (on the mainland) and La Langue de la Barberie, a sandy barrier that separates the mouth of the river from the sea. The city of Saint-Louis itself has grown enormously and haphazardly from the latter part of the 20th century: it is now the fourth most populous city in Senegal. At present, the city is undergoing a serious period of decline and recession due, in part, to the overriding influence of the capital, Dakar, and the centralized political forces in the country. This article looks at the key morphological and functional reasons behind the development and evolution of the island of Saint-Louis and that persist in the present context, with justifications for the deep-rooted heritage values that maintain its prestige as a World Heritage Site.

World Heritage site as a label in branding a place

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to argue that the World Heritage Site (WHS) status as a label plays an important role in branding, creating awareness among the tourists and promoting a specific place – be it natural or cultural.Design/methodology/approach– The study is based on qualitative research and utilised interviews and explanatory case study method, taking Maritime Greenwich WHS as a case.Findings– It is found that the status of WHS motivates the tourists in general and heritage tourists in particular to visit the case study site. Also, the status helps in boosting the level of confidence of the tourists while selecting the site. Overall, it helps to reinforce the identity of a place. However, sustainability and conservation should not take a back seat when the very purpose of branding a site as WHS is this.Originality/value– It is ideal to have a balance in managing the demand and supply side of place management and marketing making sure that the heritage value and trust is kept intact.

The Rise and Fall (?) of Hội An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Vietnam

The title of UNESCO “World Heritage Site” is a much desired marker of quality tourism. Yet social scientists rarely discuss the designation’s impact on specific locales, the programme’s effectiveness or its negative effects. Ethnographic fieldwork conducted at the World Heritage Site of Hội An in Vietnam since 1998 permits exploration of the practices, processes and outcomes of achieving World Heritage Site status, as well as of the impact of that status on the lives of local people. The World Heritage project fails in its approach to cultural heritage in less affluent destinations, hardly protects material heritage and possibly contributes to the destruction of the sites that it aims to protect.

Tourism growth and entrepreneurship: Empirical analysis of development of rural highlands

We investigated small tourism-related businesses in Kinabalu National Park, Sabah, to identify their characteristics and constraints. Awarded World Heritage Site status in 2000, Kinabalu National Park provides a wealth of economic opportunities to adjacent rural communities. Quantitative data from a sample of 145 tourism-related small business entrepreneurs from these communities revealed that most of these entrepreneurs were female, middle-aged or older, and poorly educated. Most used their own savings to establish and maintain their businesses, sustaining operations and staffing levels throughout the year despite seasonal slumps in tourist numbers, marginal profits, and a lack of tourism-specific knowledge and skills. Respondents received virtually no financial support or training from government sources and there were few incentives for the local community to participate in tourism-related activities. Government and related organizations should aim to reduce such constraints on the operations of small businesses to ensure more sustainable tourism development in Kinabalu National Park.

Valuing place/placing value: the elusive normativity of landscape in rural Tuscany

Rural Tuscany has become both a paragon of harmonious beauty and a terrain of legal conflict and recrimination. When they do not resort to essentialist notions of taste, many commentators are prone to explain the ‘preservation’ of Tuscany's countryside as the outcome of locally rooted legislative interventions meant to prevent ‘speculation’ and ‘debasement’ (scempio). Tuscany is indeed the site of layers of normative constraints and guidelines, ranging from local zoning regulations to the expectations associated with UNESCO's World Heritage Site status. Far from being self-evident, however, these normative constructs have been debated in Tuscan society over decades of rapid and often chaotic change. The reinvention of rural Tuscany as a paragon of beauty emerged from the search for an elusive form of coherence and meaning, whose features generated both conflict and accommodations. By focusing on a valley in southern Tuscany which obtained the status of World Heritage Site in 2004 (the Orcia valley), the article shows the power of the circumventions, negotiations and reinterpretations in which rural Tuscans have engaged while navigating the alternative temporalities of global validation, national legitimation and local belongings.

Governing by Metagovernance for the Preservation of the Heritage Status for George Town, Malaysia

Metagovernance is a concept of governance that is often found in macro management but is often visible. Government and metagovernance are often associated with one another but the latter is a more defined version of government. The article looks at various efficient ways of metagoverning and views the problems associated with this method of governance. Governance in maintaining the UNESCO World Heritage Site status for the city of George Town is covered as a way where metagovernance is applied.

A Study of the Key Strategic Drivers of the Use of the World Heritage Site Designation as a Destination Brand

ABSTRACTThis article examines the emergence of the World Heritage Site (WHS) designation as a de facto brand. The study applies Balakrishnan’s (2009) strategic framework for destination branding to the demand for World Heritage Sites. A total of 72 countries currently applying for WHS status for national sites are examined. Previous studies in this area have been based mainly on case-study methodologies and/or are limited either to a single country or to a comparison among a small number of countries. The study finds, inter alia, that countries that have a large number of foreign arrivals but are not yet fully integrated into the global economy are particularly disposed to expanding the number of WHS on their national territories.

George Town, Penang as a World Heritage Site: The Stakeholders’ Perceptions

Abstract The designation of George Town, Penang, along with Malacca, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) on July 7, 2008 was a boast achievement, particularly for Penangites and Malaysian generally. The status has elevated Penang to international status in terms of cultural heritage tourism and expected to draw more tourists to the area. The impacts of tourism to the local community are inevitable. Questions inevitably arise, particularly on whether the locals are aware of the listing and whether they care about this important listing. This paper examines the perceptions of George Town stakeholders on the WHS status of George Town. The study surveyed 196 respondents who reside and operate businesses in the core zone of George Town. The findings reveal that majority of the respondents are aware of George Town's status and think that such status would have a positive impact on local businesses, on the conservation and restoration of heritage buildings, and on the general well-being of George Town residents. Many agree that the restoration and conservation of heritage buildings are important in sustaining George Town's heritage status. Nevertheless, half of the respondents perceive that tourist activities could threaten the heritage values of George Town. Meanwhile, the level of stakeholder involvement in tourism planning and development is rather low. Only half of them are satisfied with the present management of heritage and tourism in George Town. This paper provides recommendations to assist the Penang State Government in the monitoring, maintenance, management, protection, and conservation of George Town to remain the status of World Heritage Site.

A City Profile of Liverpool

This Profile focuses on patterns of growth, decline and renewal in Liverpool (UK) over the past 200years. In this period, the city has seen extremes of both prosperity and decline. It pioneered many of the elements of the modern industrial metropolis, only to deurbanise during a ruinous late 20th century decline, halving its population. The centre has now been successfully re-urbanised and the city population is growing, but spatial inequalities remain intense. As a focus for policy remedies from across the ideological spectrum, Liverpool offers an instructive archive of approaches of continued relevance and interest.Liverpool emerged as a modern global city, based around new systems of international trade and capital during the 18th and 19th centuries. Growth and wealth were manifested physically in grand architectural landscapes and the planned development of often pioneering modern urban infrastructure such as railways, parks, docklands and public housing. Liverpool was among the earliest places to face acute social challenges characteristic of the industrial city. Its universal importance is reflected in UNESCO World Heritage Site status for significant portions of its docklands and downtown area.The city’s population peaked in the 1930s with much of the subsequent century witnessing an accelerating reversal of the city’s fortunes, as a result of unfavourable economic restructuring, war damage and key planning decisions. Throughout the 20th century Liverpool has been an early test bed for urban policies, sometimes applied from opposing poles of the ideological spectrum. In the switch from planned growth to managing and reversing decline, there have been numerous efforts to ‘regenerate’ the city’s economic, physical and social fabric, many have been successful, whilst others have been seen as deeply damaging, making Liverpool something of an ‘urban laboratory’ worthy of careful consideration and reflection.Informed by the historical trajectory outlined above, this Profile firstly discusses Liverpool’s rise to prominence as a global trade centre in the 18th and 19th centuries. Secondly, challenges faced during the 20th century are considered. Finally, the recent history of redevelopment and regeneration is reviewed and followed by reflections on the present city and its future prospects.

Evaluating the authenticity of earthen heritage: The case of Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre in Egypt

The authenticity of earthen heritage has long been a challenge to the trials of the under-represented States Parties, to the World Heritage Convention, to identify properties for listing on their Tentative Lists, of potential World Heritage Sites. Many under-represented States Parties and regions, such as Africa and the Arab States, retain a large number of properties representing earthen heritage, yet none of them has been inscribed on the World Heritage List. For such a pattern of cultural heritage to qualify for the World Heritage Site status, nominated properties should enjoy an Outstanding Universal Value and should also meet the conditions of authenticity and integrity. Due to the fragility of its building material, earthen heritage has always been the subject of continuous maintenance works to its material. Consequently, an impression that the material authenticity of such cultural heritage is questionable has evolved. The main purpose of this study was to discuss such perceptions in further depth. The study also aimed at evaluating the contribution of the “materials and substance” attribute versus the contribution of the other attributes of authenticity, toward the evaluation of the authenticity of earthen heritage. The study approached these objectives by evaluating by means of a proposed methodology the authenticity of one case study, which is Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, in Egypt. The adopted evaluation methodology was developed based on the Nara Document’s notion of authenticity. The findings indicated the significant contribution of the non-material attributes, vis-à-vis the contribution of the “materials and substance” attribute, toward the authenticity of the examined property. The results suggest the need to broaden the narrow perception that reduces the authenticity of earthen heritage to its material aspects, so as to embrace all the other non-material attributes of authenticity.

Strategies and Challenges of Tourist Facilities Management in the World Heritage Site: Case of the Maritime Greenwich, London

the World Heritage Site status is transforming into a highly priced honor in terms of destination branding and attracting diversified types of tourists. this study is based on the opinions of these tourists at Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site (MGWHS). the first objective is to identify these tourists' satisfaction with existing facilities and their management. the second objective is to find out any lack of facilities and to suggest ways of overcoming this. Following the qualitative research method, this explanatory case study depends on primary data collection through semistructured interviews. the results exhibit a gap between perception and expectation of the tourists. the results also demonstrate the need for recuperating the building and management of tourist facilities without disturbing the architectural and natural aesthetics. Areas identified for attention include the sanitation, resting places, catering, facilities for the disabled or parents with infants, and the multilingual directional signage.

Rock art tourism in the uKhahlamba/Drakensberg World Heritage Site: obstacles to the development of sustainable tourism

This paper focuses on rock art tourism, a highly vulnerable heritage of broad public interest, only sustainable within an effective management framework. The paper explores tourism management in South Africa's uKhahlamba-Drakensberg World Heritage Site, inscribed in 2000 for its natural landscapes and its exceptional rock art heritage. In practice, nature dominates the area's tourism and management dynamics. Current tourism patterns, markets and frequencies, together with rock art's low place within tourist agendas, are described. This situation is shown to be a legacy of European Alpine romanticism, and the political rejection of indigenous cultural heritage prior to 1994, still expressed through visitor patterns and marketing policies. Despite rock art needing tourism to valorise its conservation, and being recognised by commentators and the state as a viable route to tourism development, heritage conservation, socio-economic regeneration and cultural empowerment, the failure to reform entrenched and ineffective tourism/conservation governance and management systems is exposed. The problems affecting rock art tourism have allowed the retention of unwelcome values from South Africa's pre-democratic era, risk the loss of World Heritage site status, the destruction of globally outstanding art works and waste an important opportunity to expand and diversify sustainable tourism in South Africa.

Graphical Abstract: Eur. J. Org. Chem. 16/2010

AbstractThe cover picture shows 1,4,7,10‐tetraisoalkyltetracenes in the solid state under UV light irradiation and under natural light. The photophysical properties exhibit crystallochromy ranging from yellow to red and different fluorescence quantum yields depending on the length of the alkyl side chain. The isopropyl derivative achieved the highest quantum yield ever reported among tetracenes. Details are discussed in the article by C. Kitamura et al. on p. 3033 ff. The background of the cover picture is a night view of Himeji Castle, which is well known for its beauty and supposed resemblance to an egret (it was accorded UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1993). The authors would like to thank Hiroko Kitamura for her help in designing the cover picture.