The Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning

Research Project: Resilience and built heritage

An integrated approach to risk management of cultural heritage in urban development focused on the existing built environment.

Project briefing

  • Status Completed
  • Project duration January 2021 – September 2022
  • Programme ExWoSt

The research project investigated how existing integrated approaches in the field of risk and heritage management in European cities can be strengthened. It also explored the extent to which relevant concepts and processes can be transferred to the municipal level in Germany in order to establish coordinated approaches.

Background

Built heritage is an essential part of the collective memory of our society and thus an important cultural resource. It can help shape collective identities, create a sense of belonging within urban communities and activate civil society. Furthermore, cultural heritage is the result of developments that have emerged and adapted over the long term. It has been in existence for hundreds, if not thousands, of years and has withstood many hazards and threats over time. Thus, historic buildings integrate architectural traditions and histories and symbolise continuity, stability, strength – and therefore resilience.

The timeliness and growing need to deal with human-made and natural hazards and insidious environmental changes underlines the necessity for integrated approaches to risk management in urban development. Cultural heritage must play a role in this approach, both as a protected asset and as a resource for sustainable and resilient urban development. In this context, UNESCO published a manual “Managing Disaster Risks for World Heritage” in 2010, that includes guidelines and orientation for dealing with disaster events.

In current practice there is often a disconnect between the management of cultural heritage and risk management at local level. On the whole, planning instruments in these two fields do not relate to each other, and there are no established formats or processes for cooperation and coordination between the relevant groups of stakeholders. Another problem is that most countries lack any connection between, on the one hand, prevention and adaptation measures in city and spatial planning and, on the other, preparation for potential threats and emergencies as part of disaster management. Dialogue formats between relevant stakeholders are also lacking, and overlapping legal provisions often go unused.

This was the starting point of the research project. It aimed to investigate how integrated approaches to risk and heritage management can be strengthened in European cities and to what extent existing concepts and processes, such as those presented in the UNESCO handbook and other relevant documents, can be transferred to European cities. The research project was also embedded in the process of the Urban Agenda for the EU.

In this context, stakeholders from the EU and its member states, regions and cities work together to develop innovative solutions in urban development of European cities. One of the Agenda’s 14 thematic partnerships focuses on “culture and cultural heritage” and is managed by the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building (BMWSB) and the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR), together with Italy. In eleven so-called “actions” of the partnership, expert discourses were held on different aspects of culture and cultural heritage in European urban development. The actions were accompanied by expert groups, the “action groups”, in whose open dialogue formats findings were gathered and recommendations prepared for the EU.

Link: „Urban Agenda for the EU“: Urban Agenda for the EU - Culture and Cultural Heritage

The image shows a significantly increased water level of the Danube in the city of Regensburg in Bavaria. Resilience and built heritage Significantly increased water level of the Danube, Regensburg

The research project was part of Action 8 “Guiding Principles for Resilience and Integrated Approaches in Risk and Heritage Management in European Cities”. This examined in detail the intersection of resilience and cultural heritage at European level in order to strengthen integrated approaches to the risk management of built heritage in European cities. The research results were continuously linked back into the action group, and the discussion results and recommendations were incorporated into further work.

Objective

A key concern of the research project was to analyse and assess existing approaches that integrate risk and heritage management and the resilience of the built heritage, as well as good European examples. Based on this work, an exchange of relevant stakeholders was initiated in order to develop guidelines and recommendations for future practice in promoting integrated risk management. This was examined in a first step at the European level and then further investigated with a focus on German municipalities.

Integrated risk management with a focus on built heritage means an intersection of both disciplines with the aim of better protecting built heritage from future hazards. This is based on a holistic understanding in that, all manner of natural and man-made threats (such as flooding and earthquakes but also fire or armed conflict) are taken into account as part of the so-called “all-hazards approach”, while simultaneously pursuing a systemic approach to built heritage. It considers both state-listed monuments as well as heritage assets that are meaningful to the local communities and contribute to their cultural identities (e.g. historic city centres and cultural landscapes).

The project contractor was the studio Reicher Haase Assoziierte GmbH (Aachen) in collaboration with plan + risk consult – Prof. Dr. Greiving & Partner (Dortmund) and Prof. Dr. Carola S. Neugebauer – Junior Professor for Preserving Cultural Heritage (Aachen)

Contact us

  • Bastian Wahler-Żak
    Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development
    Division RS 8 "Quality in Urban Design, Investment Projects"
    Phone: +49 228 99401-1326
    Email: bastian.wahler@bbr.bund.de

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