ICOMOS Preparing Concept Note to Guide Engagement by Preservation Community with Habitat 3

Elaborating upon the UN SDG’s Urban Goal is a job that falls in part to the epic UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development being held in October 2016.  Known as Habitat III, the conference will draw thousands to Quito, Ecuador to develop the New Urban Agenda, a 20-year policy and research agenda for the World’s cities and towns.  Robust incorporation of heritage into all aspects of the New Urban Agenda will take work.  Heritage “cannot be pigeon-holed into just iconic monuments or only one Habitat III theme” said Jeff Soule, who serves as ICOMOS Focal Point for the World Urban Campaign. “We need to recognize cultural heritage as essential to sustainable urbanization, integrate it into current planning and development models and advocate more transparent and equitable legal and financial systems.”  This work will be guided by a Habitat III Concept note which US/ICOMOS is helping ICOMOS develop.  Major drafting sessions occurred at the CIVVIH annual meeting in Syros, Greece in September attended by CIVVIH member and Cleveland Restoration Society Executive Director Kathleen Crowther and at the ICOMOS Theory and Philosophy of Conservation and Restoration annual Scientific Conference held in November in Bangalore, India.  Donna Graves attended the latter where she presented on “Preserving Intangible Heritage and Cultural Memory in San Francisco.”