Urban Heritage Areas Research Articles

Global Research Trends and Future Directions in Urban Historical Heritage Area Conservation and Development: A 25-Year Bibliometric Analysis

Global Research Trends and Future Directions in Urban Historical Heritage Area Conservation and Development: A 25-Year Bibliometric Analysis

Conservation Policy of Visual Quality in Connecting Area Between Historical Areas

Alun-alun Contong, a historical area in Surabaya, connects popular historical areas via a tram line. Today, it features commercial buildings from the Dutch East Indies era, which is dominated by contemporary style. Therefore, historical appearances have become degraded and disconnected from their surrounding areas. Based on the case study, this research tries to construct specific historical conservation policies on connecting areas that have not been discussed before. The mixed method involves several tactics that involve two phases: assessment of the building facade element and serial vision analysis as an internal and external identification. The results show the visual quality condition and potential of an area between two historical areas as a modality of the Alun-alun Contong conservation policy. The research findings enable conservation policies to use this method at other locations to improve or restore connectivity, strengthen visual quality, and ensure the sustainability of the entire urban heritage area.

Spiritual places: Spatial recognition of Tibetan Buddhist spiritual perception.

Tibetan Buddhism, as an indigenous religion, has a significant and far-reaching influence in the Tibetan areas of China. This study, focusing on Lhasa, explores the integration of Tibetan Buddhist spiritual perceptions within urban spaces. Employing a novel approach that combines street view data and deep learning technology, the research aims to identify and map the spatial distribution of Tibetan Buddhist spiritual sites against the backdrop of the urban landscape. Our analysis reveals a notable concentration of these spiritual places near urban architectural and cultural heritage areas, highlighting the profound connection between residents' cultural life and spiritual practices. Despite challenges posed by modern urbanisation, these spiritual sites demonstrate resilience and adaptability, continuing to serve as cultural and spiritual pillars of the Tibetan Buddhist community. This study contributes to the fields of urban planning, religious studies, and digital humanities by demonstrating the potential of technology in examining the impact of urban development on cultural and religious landscapes. The research underscores the importance of protecting and integrating spaces of spiritual perception in urban development planning. It shows that safeguarding these spaces is crucial not only for cultural heritage preservation but also for achieving sustainable urban development and social harmony. This study opens new avenues for interdisciplinary research, advocating for a deeper understanding of the dynamic relationship between urban development and spiritual spaces from psychological, sociological, and environmental science perspectives. As urban landscapes evolve, the study emphasises the need to maintain a balance between material sustainability and cultural and spiritual richness in urban planning.

Architectural Porosity: Reading The Change of Inhabitation in Urban Heritage Area

Architectural Porosity: Reading The Change of Inhabitation in Urban Heritage Area

Architecture research in urban heritage resilience: a systematic literature review

The conservation of urban heritage is an important process in maintaining the sustainability of urban areas. Sustainability in the context of urban heritage includes the management and conservation of cultural and physical heritage, as well as its harmonious integration with the development of existing social and economic dynamics. Historic cities and urban heritage areas are threatened from both internal and external sources, ranging from over-development of tourism, lack of support for cultural management, and preservation threatened by development projects that are not in line with the characteristics of the area. The objective of this paper is to conduct a literature review pertaining to urban resilience research within the field of architecture, and to provide an analysis of the factors that contribute to the resilience of urban heritage areas. This study applied the systematic literature review method, using the PRISMA 2020 statement as a reference. The methodology involved searching for articles in the DOAJ and Scopus databases with a time limit of 2010 to 2023. Based on this research, it was found that there are a number of factors that contribute to urban resilience and urban heritage, including cultural, economic, social, heritage, environmental and institutional. It also proved that the conservation and enhancement of urban heritage, such as historic buildings, cultural landmarks and other elements that make up a city’s identity, is strongly influenced by architecture. In addition, the findings highlight the importance of a multi-dimensional and collaborative approach to the conservation process. This study shows that the conservation of urban heritage plays an important role in achieving holistic urban resilience. However, there are several challenges and knowledge gaps that need to be addressed in future research, such as the integration of sustainability with urban heritage conservation, participatory management to engage local communities, and the development of effective methods to identify and mitigate risks to urban heritage.

Analyzing the Influence of Visitor Types on Location Choices and Revisit Intentions in Urban Heritage Destinations

Understanding visitors’ spatial choice behavior is important in developing effective policies to counteract overcrowdedness in attractive urban heritage areas. This research presents a comprehensive analysis of visitor location choice behavior, aiming to address two primary objectives. First, this paper investigates the relationship between visitor segments and the choice of particular Points of Interest (POIs). Second, this paper explores the impacts of visitors’ experiences and visitor segments on their revisit intentions. We used a sample of 320 visitors who had been to Amsterdam within the last five years to collect data about their location choice behavior and intention to revisit after a recent visit to the city. Combining the revealed choices and intentions of pre-defined visitor segments obtained from a stated choice experiment, association rules are extracted to reveal differences in the patterns of behaviors related to the segment. The findings identify associations between various POIs, including museums such as the Rijksmuseum and Madame Tussauds, and visitor classes, which include “cultural attraction seekers”, “selective sightseers”, and “city-life lovers”. Furthermore, binary logistic regression analysis reveals that affective experiences, such as feelings of comfort, happiness, and annoyance, have a significant influence on visitors’ intentions to revisit the destination in the future. This research found that “cultural attraction seekers” and “selective sightseers” display a higher likelihood of considering a return visit to the city.

Unpacking the Dynamics of Urban Transformation in Heritage Places through ‘Critical System Dynamics’: The Case of Beresford Square, Woolwich

Rapidly growing research in urban heritage studies highlights the significance of incorporating participatory approaches in urban transformation projects. And yet, participation tends to be limited, including only certain segments of the population. It is also acknowledged that cities are ‘dynamic’ and ‘complex’ systems. However, there is extremely limited research that captures the dynamic transformation mechanisms in historic urban environments. This paper aims to illustrate a novel, mixed-method and dynamic approach to unfold the dynamics of urban heritage areas. We do so by focusing on the historic area of Woolwich, a South-East suburb in London, UK. To do so, we apply ‘critical system dynamics’ for the analysis of a mixed dataset which incorporates architectural surveys, interviews, online surveys, social media data and visual observations of material change through light archaeology. Within the framework of ‘deep cities’, the article argues that the transformation of a place is a complex process that can be captured not only based on ‘what we see’ but also on ‘what we cannot see’. In other words, the invisible (values, emotions, and senses) is as significant as the visible. This is of paramount importance as most urban planning policies tend to be based on material, visible remains and less on the spirit or soul of a place.

HUSH (Hiking in Urban Scientific Heritage): The Augmented Reality for Enhancing the Geological and Naturalistic Heritage in Urban Areas

Over the past two decades, significant efforts have been made to diversify the tourism industry and enhance its educational experience. One such endeavor is urban trekking and geotourism, which have emerged as important means of promoting geological knowledge. The recent advancements in augmented reality technologies as well as the increasing availability of ‘born digital’ data such as those gathered from social media create a basis for the development of immersive and customized touristic experiences. Urban scientific heritage, augmented reality, and data mining are the key elements of the HUSH project. Its first focus is the identification of the naturalistic components in a given urban area (flora, fauna, and geological features) through literature surveys and scientific research. These factors become points of interest (PoIs) along touristic paths, where they are connected to the historical and artistic components of the area. Augmented reality serves as the medium through which the user can access this content. The contents are delivered as videos, text, images, or interactive 3D models. The mobile application from this project is a useful tool for promoting geoheritage and naturalistic values in urban areas and for improving the awareness and the sustainability of our cities.

Vulnerability assessment and categorization against heat waves for the Bilbao historic area

Climate change is threatening urban cultural heritage's preservation and survival. To improve the resilience of urban systems, planning decision-making processes must consider the risks that climate change poses to heritage. Nevertheless, despite the extensive body of research on climate-related hazards, there remains a significant knowledge deficiency related to the assessment of risks that considers heat waves and historic urban sites.This study's primary objective is to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data to analyse how historic urban locations and heat waves interact, as both urban systems and heritage areas. Socioeconomic, cultural, governmental, and physical aspects of the system are considered for a holistic approach. Key performance indicators, criteria, and requirements pertaining to key vulnerabilities of historic urban areas are identified to undertake a vulnerability assessment methodology, and appraised using the MIVES methodology, a Multi Criteria Decision Making Methodology (MCDM), to achieve this goal. Additionally, a reduced and data-constrained evaluation is provided through a categorization, for both buildings and public spaces. The categorization process and complete methodology are discussed along with the results of its application to a GIS-based model in Bilbao's historic district (Basque Country, Spain). This study seeks to be reproducible and be a tool for future global studies.

Urban heritage and the four pillars of sustainability: Urban-scale facility management in the World Heritage sites

The discussion addressing sustainability issues of the World Heritage (WH) as cultural sites that holds outstanding universal values (OUV) has started to surface since the adoption of the “Strategic Action Plan for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention 2012-2022”, specifically in the third goal, which states that “heritage protection and conservation should consider present and future environmental, societal, and economic needs.” This goal aligned with the first three pillars of sustainability. After the introduction of “culture” as the fourth pillar of sustainability by UCLG in 2011, the issue of sustainability in the WH sites has drawn global attention. The balance of all four pillars of sustainability within protected sites can potentially be achieved by improving efficiencies through urban-scale facility management (Urban FM). The principles of Urban FM aligned with UNESCO’s recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach, which is a holistic approach to managing historic sites. This study discusses aspects of managing urban-scale facilities in urban heritage areas and aims to shed light on the knowledge of Urban FM at WH sites by employing a literature review approach. The preliminary findings indicate that culture, the fourth pillar of sustainability, was involved and bound to the other three pillars: economic, social, and environmental. Within WH sites, urban-scale facility management needs to be considered seriously to ensure the protection of OUV that efficiently defines the existence of their status as World Heritage.

Urban Memory Becomes An Idea In The Concept of Spatial Planning (Study Case: Restoration Area of Tambora District, West Jakarta)

Urban heritage is a small part of the past of the city that holds the roots of the city's identity and culture, which are the city's identity. The strong identity of the historic area must be maintained, but this has a dilemma because of the need for change today. Therefore efforts are needed to create adaptive urban heritage areas. City spaces have a deep relationship with the people who inhabit them, with the most memorable or most memorable experiences and memories for them. This research contributes to exploring urban memory to develop conceptual spatial plans in restoration areas, using qualitative research methods to study and seek in-depth information about human behavior or phenomena in the area. The mapping method is a semi-structured map-based interview to evaluate structural (physical) integrity and conduct semi-structured interviews to assess dynamic (non-physical) integrity. This study found that people who live or work in this restoration area have a strong memory or memory of the urban heritage in their area. However, it is different for those who visit; visitors must fully understand and remember the area's history. This study suggests that if physical manipulation is carried out in the area, it starts by strengthening the site's structural integrity because environmental quality is vital for the security and visualization of the area. Then, it requires dynamic integrity for values that connect people to a more dynamic approach to urban heritage conservation. The community's collective memory includes the city's heritage values and, if properly preserved, can increase the heritage value over time and add to the area's economic value.

Identifying Urban Heritage Facility Management Support Services Considering World Heritage Sites

Whether public sectors or private institutions, in-house or outsourced, building-level or urban-scale, the critical role of facility management (FM) is to support the core business activities of an organization in accomplishing its objectives. Through the services it manages and provides, FM impacts people’s health, well-being, and quality of life. While there is no difficulty in defining a corporation, organization, or institution’s core business, defining the core business of a city as an institution is not widely discussed in the urban-scale facility management literature. By using a narrative research approach from the available literature, this study seeks to shed light on potential justifications for a city’s “core business” and its possible support services. The context of the World Heritage site is used to provide a sharper perspective on the possible urban-scale support services customized for urban heritage areas. This study suggests that a city’s primary objective is to maintain and possibly attract new “desirable” citizens through the provision of excellent services, a quality-built environment, a sense of well-being, health, safety and security, and economic growth. Consequently, the integration of urban-scale support services must be aligned with the purpose of the city, or the World Heritage site, to be specific.

The influence of sense of place dimensions on visitors' conservation behavioral intention: the case of Semarang Old Town, Indonesia

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to confirm the influence of each dimension of visitor's sense of place (place identity, place attachment and place dependence) on each dimension of conservation behavioral intention (general behavioral intention and specific behavioral intention) in the context of urban heritage.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a quantitative methods. Research respondent is individual visitor who meet the research criteria. The strength influence of sense of place dimension (independent variable) on dimension of conservation behavioral intention (dependent variable) was measured by Somers' D correlation. Primary data were analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques.FindingsAll correlation coefficient values were below +0.59. It shows that the sense of place dimensions have a weak influence on each dimension of conservation behavioral intention. Weak correlation occurs because of the setting profile (tourism approaches which tends to be material-based) and the type of visitor (casual cultural tourism and sightseeing tourist) which interprets heritage only as an object of relaxation.Research limitations/implicationsDue to the statistical approach used (nonparametric statistical techniques), the results of the study cannot be generalized. Therefore, further studies with different approaches are needed.Social implicationsThis study demonstrates the need for tourism policy in Semarang Old Town (SOT) as a form of value-driven heritage conservation practice to encourage visitors to appreciate the cultural significance of the area.Originality/valueIn the context of urban heritage area, the literature on research topics is still limited. However, the results of this study were different from previous studies. The weak relationship is explained through an approach that considers contextual factors, namely profile settings and visitor profiles.

Protection of Patinated Bronze with Long-Chain Phosphonic Acid/Organic Coating Combined System.

Bronze cultural heritage in urban areas is susceptible to decay due to the significant amount of pollutants present in the air. This causes the dissolution of bronze and the patina on its surface. The efficient protection of outdoor bronze cultural heritage is still an unresolved problem. The aim of this work is to investigate 16-phosphonohexadecanoic acid as an environmentally friendly and non-toxic corrosion inhibitor for patinated bronze. The corrosion protection of sulphide-patinated bronze by phosphonic acid alone and in combination with acrylic coating Paraloid B-72 is examined. In order to achieve efficient corrosion protection, various parameters of the phosphonic acid application were studied. The efficiency of protection is examined by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) during the immersion in simulated acid rain solution and after exposure to a corrosion chamber. It was found that the studied phosphonic acid provides corrosion protection to patinated bronze and significantly improves the protective properties of Paraloid B72. This was also confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examination of the coating surface after exposure to a corrosive environment.

Urban Heritage Rehabilitation: Institutional Stakeholders’ Contributions to Improve Implementation of Urban and Building Regulations

Climate change, natural hazards, and human actions are threatening cultural heritage in urban areas. More than ever, building regulations’ procedures and criteria are essential to guarantee the protection and safeguarding of urban areas and their buildings. These procedures and criteria are crucial to assist stakeholders in decision-making, especially when facing rapid transitions and transformative changes in urban heritage areas. Several institutional stakeholders in charge of urban heritage protection strengthen the need for a better implementation of building regulations through flexible criteria to support intervention procedures in buildings with different features and in different contexts. Under this topic, the present study uses a twofold method. Firstly, the authors analyze and compare the urban and building regulations of three Southern European countries, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, concerning procedures and criteria directed to the built heritage; secondly, they highlight and compare the views of different institutional stakeholders from the same three countries, at different levels (national, regional, and municipal), to understand the impact of the implementation of the regulations on the ground. The findings show the relevance of the institutional stakeholders’ views to improve the regulations and their practice. They highlight the need to promote inventory and cataloging procedures, as well as flexible criteria when dealing with urban heritage buildings.

Urban Heritage in Transformation: Physical and Non-Physical Dimensions of Changing Contexts

Urban heritage is at the core of the process of many changes observable in the cities today. The pace of urban change in heritage contexts, however, differs widely across the globe. In some areas, it goes slowly, in others it is astonishingly rapid. In some cases, change is coupled with risks of erosion of heritage and urban areas of value and in others change is synonymous with prosperity and positive impacts. Change in urban heritage areas is not only confined to the physical and tangible aspects, but needs to be regarded as mirroring changes related socio-political practices, economic implications, and cultural impacts. In this regard, the present thematic issue looks at various patterns of the interrelationship between heritage and urban change from both the physical and the non-physical perspectives. This editorial presents the topic of urban heritage and patterns of physical and non-physical transformation in urban heritage contexts and introduces the thematic issue “Urban Heritage and Patterns of Change: Spatial Practices of Physical and Non-Physical Transformation.”

The older adults in the smart urban heritage area: A mini-scoping review of inclusivity in the World Heritage sites

This article explores the concept of creating a smart urban heritage area that is livable for all citizens, particularly older adults who are considered valuable stakeholders. The article explains that elderly people, especially in cities, are growing faster and want to age in place instead of moving far away, and thus, cities need to adapt to the needs of this type of residents. The study views old age and elderly accommodation as social design problems that individuals cannot solve, and that ethical and inclusive architecture can solve these issues. The article also addresses how inclusively designed urban heritage areas can improve the quality of life, personal identity, and human interactions throughout citizens’ lifespans. The methodology used in the study involved mini-scoping reviews to understand and defining accessibility, inclusivity, and mobility in urban heritage case studies from the reviewed literature. The authors searched various databases for peer-reviewed journal articles that addressed the relationship between older adults and smart urban heritage, particularly UNESCO World Heritage sites, and found 18 relevant papers. The article concludes by discussing the characteristics and needs of older adults and the various design concepts and practices that can improve the sustainable urban experience in smart urban heritage areas.

Fenomenologija prostorne kulturno-istorijske celine - primer područja oko Dositejevog liceja u Beogradu

This paper analyzes the phenomenological perspectives of the socio-cultural understanding of urban heritage, which is normatively determined according to the type of spatial cultural-historical unit. Proceeding from the assumption that the spatial cultural-historical unit of the area around Dositej's Lyceum in Belgrade can be understood as a museumized space, its complexities will be considered through Focault's theoretical perspective of heterotopia, while its circumstance of socio-cultural semi-peripherality will be considered in regard to the concept of social production of space espoused by French urban sociologist Henri Lefebvre. It is concluded that the complexity of the values and properties of the urban heritage area - semantically determined by Dositej's Lyceum - offers deeper critical modalities of reflection that not only contribute to the clarification of the functional characteristics of the normative and institutional role of this basic instrument for the protection of spatial complexity, i.e. that conceptually denoted as the spatial cultural-historical unit, but, on a specific spatial example, they reveal the breadth of possibilities of synchronic and diachronic perspectives that such instruments - almost as a rule - always contain or acquire throughout their applicational histories.

Digitization of Urban Heritage Preservation Practices for Vilnius City

For UNESCO Heritage site Vilnius City, urban heritage preservation (UHP) is an important task aimed at monitoring various risks associated with preservation of heritage valuables in urban heritage areas. Those valuables can be small and large, tangible and intangible: building façade, building doors, windows, roof elements, gates, panorama view on a heritage site, heights of the building, volumes of the building, etc. Risks to heritage valuables may vary from gradual and cumulative processes (such as age-related degradation) to sudden and catastrophic events (such as floods, fires, or armed conflict). There are also risks connected to the intentional or unintentional destruction of cultural heritage. Those usually are the cases of city infrastructure development and purposeful rebuilding of the heritage objects.

Proposed flood evacuation routes for heritage areas based on spatial configuration analysis: a case study of Penang, Malaysia

PurposeBecause of the global increase of climate change effects, floods are becoming more frequent and severer, especially in urban areas of coastal cities and islands where floodplains have turned into buildings because of rapid urbanisation, leading to a higher risk of damages. Urban heritage areas should be highly considered in the time of evacuation because of the vulnerability of streets and buildings and limitations on taking counteractions. Given these limitations, this study aims to propose a network of potential evacuation routes based on spatial configuration analysis of the heritage areas.Design/methodology/approachPenang Island's heritage site, namely, George Town, located on the northwest coast of Malaysia, is chosen as the case study. By using an approach of spatial configuration analysis using space syntax techniques in addition to considering the potential starting points for evacuation and flood risk map of the area, this study analysed the area's street network values for evacuation function during flood crisis time.FindingsPotential evacuation routes were identified for flood disasters in the George Town heritage area. Furthermore, the proposed evacuation routes were evaluated in terms of time for evacuation by metric step-depth analysis of space syntax.Originality/valueA few studies have focused on practical guidelines for evacuation routes based on spatial configuration analysis, an important yet neglected approach in this regard, especially concerning urban island areas. This study can contribute to providing strategies to reduce vulnerability and casualties in urban heritage areas.