INTBAU Congress, 14 November 2016, London

Catrini Kubontubuh presenting the Indonesian Heritage Trust and 2017 ICNT

INTO is delighted to partner INTBAU (the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism) at their 2016 Congress.

INTBAU is dedicated to the creation of humane and harmonious buildings and places which respect local traditions.   Furthermore, their 2001 Charter talks of traditions which “allow us to recognise the lessons of history, enrich our lives and offer our inheritance to the future”.  Traditions through which communities can retain their individuality in the advance of globalisation and which “preserve our sense of identity and counteract social alienation”.

Synergies with INTBAU

Attending the Congress yesterday were representatives of INTO members, the Czech National Trust, the National Trust of Georgia, Romania’s National Trust, Pro Patrimonio and the National Trust, along with architectural colleagues and friends.   And as a result the resonance between INTBAU’s work and INTO’s rang even louder.   It was also great to have Shoshana Stewart of Turquoise Mountain, doing amazing work in Afghanistan, highlight our State of Global Heritage Report saying that the greatest threat to heritage is apathy!

#tomorrowscities

The theme of the Congress was ‘Tomorrow’s Cities: Building the Future’.  It was such an interesting day. I can’t wait for the Congress Report to be able to read through it all again.

I thought the following would be particularly interesting and noteworthy to INTO members (my belated ‘tweets’!):

• UN Habitat’s International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning
• UN Habitat’s Global Public Space Toolkit
• African cities will grow by 315m in next 15 years so we can’t afford to get urban design wrong.  By 2040 African youth will be largest labour force at 1.1 billion therefore we need to help Africa’s youth create their own future. 90% Ethiopia’s energy comes from biomass (Simon Ratcliffe, DFID Cities Adviser)
• Cities are good for you; what kind of a city do you want to live in; not just about the buildings but the spaces in-between; climate change affects the poor first – the city as source of problem and solution; cities are made of people not bricks and mortar; when people interact, something extraordinary happens; finally we learn the rules of living together by being together (Leo Hollis, Writer, Historian and Urbanist)
• Importance of walkable neighbourhoods and protecting public space; build what you mean rather than demonstrate through documents; working on a Rapid Response Toolkit (Ben Bolgar, Prince’s Foundation for Building Community)
• Need a more joined up approach between rural and urban (no divide). Most of all, work flat out for a 1.5-2 degree temperature increase but plan for a 3-4 degree one because if it looks tough now it’s only going to get worse (Graham Wynne, International Sustainability Unit)
• Shift focus from objects to places. Local money is smart money (Peter Elmlund, Future of Places)
• 

How does heritage evolve?

• Heritage needs to be about more than tourism.  So 23m visitors to Venice is ‘heritage gone wrong’.  Heritage is therefore a vital source of inspiration for the future (Simon Murray, National Trust)
• In the face of rapid urbanisation, we find places of retreat/homeland (Rau Hoskins, Design Tribe Architects)
• Indonesia is ‘dangerously beautiful’. Saujana heritage is the inextricable unity of natural and cultural heritage in space and time.  Governments probably do the most destroying of heritage (Catrini Kubontubuh, Indonesian Heritage Trust) – Catrini’s presentation is here
• High levels of heritage activity increase well-being, rather than necessarily high levels of heritage assets (Jonathan Schifferes, RSA)
• High levels of unhappiness and depression but organised community groups increase well-being (Keith Harrison-Broninski, Town Digital Hub)

The conference continues today and finally this evening, we will make the first INTO/INTBAU Award for Excellence to the National Trust for Historic Preservation for their outstanding ReUrbanism work.   More about that in due course!

INTO’s 2016 State of Global Heritage Report referenced in INTBAU’s Call to Action

My earlier blog about INTBAU and evolving heritage identity can be read here.