How to make the historic city full of new vitality and charm

Source: People's Daily

Core reading

In recent years, with the change of demographic structure, the intensification of climate change, and the development of tourism, how to achieve a balance between cultural protection and sustainable urban development has become a new issue facing the historical city.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of UNESCO's adoption of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. On the World Heritage List, the Urban Category is the largest single category, with a total of 136 historic cities, historic centres and historic towns. Some countries are actively exploring the protection and development of ancient cities, from attaching importance to static to paying more attention to living, from individual protection to attaching more importance to overall protection, and promoting the new vitality and charm of historical ancient cities.

Krakow, Poland —"

The principle of authenticity is par with the protection of living

Krakow, located in southern Poland, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1978. Krakow has been an important economic and trade town in Central and Eastern Europe since its founding around 700 AD, and was once the capital of Poland and is now the third largest city in Poland. There are many places of interest and monument in the city, and there are as many as 760 ancient architectural relics alone. The protection of ancient cities is mainly based on the preservation of the original state, and the living protection of the historical district is carried out in combination with economic and social development.

Walking through the ancient city of Krakow, you can see the basic urban pattern and appearance of hundreds of years ago: centered on the central market square, radiating to the outer streets. The central market square retains the cobbled streets that were originally laid out in a grid format extension. From the outskirts of the old city entrance urn, there are no modern high-rise buildings, and the internal and external jointly form a more unified architectural style. For the protection of historical sites in the ancient city, it follows the principle of "repairing the old as old, not adding or subtracting", maintaining the natural state of the architectural relics as much as possible, and sending the remaining objects with research value to the museum for preservation. The golden domes of the Wawel Royal Castle and Wawel Cathedral in the ancient city are now patina, still giving people a glimpse of the past glory from the thick historical sites.

The Kazimierz Historic District is the most typical neighborhood for the preservation and development of Krakow's old town. Without changing the appearance of the original building, the block has undergone internal transformation and upgrading, integrating the protection of ancient buildings and cultural blocks into the modern development of the city. Ethnic concert halls, cafes, antique shops, taverns, etc. are full of vitality and attract passing tourists.

The protection of cultural heritage is a key direction of the Polish cultural development strategy. In 2003, the Polish government adopted the Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage, which clearly stipulates the protection methods of public and private cultural relics. In order to strengthen the daily maintenance of monuments and other cultural heritage, Poland has established a state-owned cultural relics protection enterprise, which is responsible for the restoration and protection of various cultural heritage and historical monuments, and has set up 23 full-time departments such as the Department of Historical Documents, the Department of Archaeology, and the Painting Protection Studio, with branches throughout Poland.

"The premise of excavating the cultural heritage of the ancient city is to clarify its development context, and before implementing the specific protection plan, we should have a deep understanding of the formation process of the historical buildings in various communities in the ancient city, study the cultural characteristics they contain, carry out comprehensive transformation and development, and finally commercial development and tourism, and cannot put the cart before the horse." Said Andrej Szzewski, director of the National Museum of Krakow.

Bologna, Italy —

"Holistic protection" improves the livability of the old city

The Italian ancient city of Bologna has a long history and was once named the "European Capital of Culture". In the 1960s, the Municipality of Bologna first proposed the concept of "protecting people and houses together" (also known as "holistic protection"), which not only protects valuable ancient buildings, but also protects the original living conditions and ways of life of residents. In this way, what is left is not only the "appearance" of the ancient building, but also the "rhyme" of the ancient city.

In line with this philosophy, Bologna focuses on finding a balance between public resources and the inhabitants of the community in its urban development, strengthening public participation and management. The ancient city not only retains a large number of old buildings, but also is full of life. According to statistics, after the transformation of the historical center of the ancient city, 90% of the residents stayed.

Italy has 58 World Heritage Sites, most of which are located in municipalities, many of which apply for the city's historic center as a whole. Italy has developed systematic rules for the preservation and inheritance of ancient cities. In the mid-1960s, Italy established the Association for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Ancient Cities and investigated the situation of Italian monuments, providing detailed information for the government to compile a catalogue of cultural protection. Italy adopted the Venice Charter and the Florence Charter in 1964 and 1982, which set specific guidelines for the protection of monuments, such as the overall protection and reuse of ancient cities and historic buildings.

"Maintaining the original appearance" and "repairing the old as old" are the basic principles of the protection of ancient italian cities. The external structure of ancient buildings belongs to the government, and businesses or individuals only have the right to use the internal houses, and changes in the structure, form and color of the building must be submitted to the cultural relics department for approval and coordination with the surrounding environment. In order to cope with the growing population and development needs, large cities are building new cities outside the old city, and the old city will not add new buildings in principle. Cities set up restricted traffic zones in the historic center area, and non-registered vehicles driving during closed periods are subject to high fines.

In response to UNESCO's call to "protect the old town and avoid excessive commercialization", the municipal governments of Florence, Rome and other cities have successively issued regulations to limit the number of restaurants, souvenirs and other shops in the historic center, and only allow the opening of art stores in some sections. Federico Zanahi, a commercial specialist for the City of Florence, said that overly concentrated and homogeneous storefronts would damage the vitality and unique charm of the old city, and maintaining the diversification of shops would improve the livability of the old city.

Toledo, Spain -

Strike a balance between tourists and residents

More than 70 kilometers southwest of Madrid, the capital of Spain, on the hills on the banks of the Tagus River, there is a thousand-year-old city of Toledo. The ancient city is surrounded by city walls, the buildings in the city are built according to the terrain, and the ancient castles, churches and towers have gone through vicissitudes, and it is as if you have traveled to the Middle Ages. The history of the ancient city dates back to the ancient Roman period in BC and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1986.

In 1997, Toledo adopted the Special Development Plan for the Ancient City, which for the first time systematically carried out a large-scale overall restoration of the ancient city. During the restoration process, emphasis is placed on maintaining the urban structure of the ancient city and maintaining the quaint style. The local government has set up an urban development consortium to be responsible for ancient city management, project planning, financing and investment. Private institutions such as the Toledo Foundation are also involved in projects to protect and revitalize the ancient city.

Through the overall restoration and transformation, many historical sites in Toledo's ancient city have been revitalized, and cultural facilities and services for tourists have been expanded and upgraded. Due to the high topography of Toledo's ancient city, the local government built escalators to connect the ancient city center with facilities such as stations to facilitate the movement of tourists and residents. In 2005, the high-speed railway connecting Madrid and Toledo was officially opened, taking only half an hour's drive from the capital to Toledo.

"Our aim is to preserve and create a vibrant ancient city, and while tourism is an important way to promote the preservation of the ancient city, overexploitation of tourism can have a negative impact on the sustainable development of the ancient city." Only by avoiding the loss of local residents and promoting the increase of the permanent population can the ancient city be better protected. Jesses Collato, manager of the Toledo Urban Development Consortium, said the protection of the ancient city must strike a balance between tourists and residents.

To this end, the consortium announced that it will implement the 2030 Ancient City Strategic Development Plan, launching a total of 900,000 euros of assistance funds, where residents of the ancient city can apply for repairs and renovations of the houses they live in. The consortium will also repair and renovate abandoned houses in the ancient city due to disrepair, and sell them at appropriate prices, attracting more families to live in the ancient city and injecting more vitality into the development of the ancient city.

(People's Daily Warsaw, Rome, Madrid, Beijing, reporter Yu Yang, Xie Yahong, Jiang Bo, Cai Zichang)

People's Daily (2022.09.02. 17th edition)