T41b Conservation of urban heritage and renew of old cities - 中欧社会论坛 - China Europa Forum

T41b Conservation of urban heritage and renew of old cities

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Click here to access to the full photo gallery of the workshop in Fuzhou, July 2009

Workshop presentation

Exhibition plan for Workshop on Conservation of Urban Heritage and Old Cities Renew

As the continent with long history and culture, China has a variety of old tangible and intangible heritages which are our precious assets. After the establishment of new China, the protection of ancient cities had experienced disappearing, rescuing and protecting stages. The protection of China’s ancient cities has been taking a detour, many architectures representing city history and spirit were destroyed and disappeared. The pattern of city construction was too uniformity which became a serious problem where the people lived in lost attachment.

In 1980, the protection of Ping’yao Ancient City was created a precedent in protecting the China’s historical ancient cities. China also accumulated a certain experience in protecting ancient cities in the continuous practice after nearly 30 years. The city is needed to be renovated, otherwise it will be declined. However it doesn’t mean to abandon the history, and it should be developed on the basis of history and generated new things from the old environment but not mechanically study the irrelevant things from other outside places.

As early as twentieth century, European countries protected the ancient cities by making laws, even they set up special departments to manage them. They have accumulated rather rich experience in protecting, renewing, developing and utilizing the ancient cities in a long time. Based on maintaining the original characters of the buildings, a large number of tertiary industries came into the ancient city which made them recover the living, but not just a matter of keeping an old building and there is no popular dead city.

From different ideological and cultural background, adopted from Eastern and Western experts’ ideological collision, by the example of Fuzhou Three Lanes and Seven Alleys that is known as the "China’s Ming and Qing architectural museum Square system living fossil", this dialogue is to discuss how to fully develop the tangible and intangible heritages in the process of protecting and renewing the ancient cities. It should be introduced relevant industries developing in the ancient cities to make them shines vigor.

Topics for debates

- The experience exploration of protection to the ancient cities in East and West

- The study on tangible and intangible heritages protection of Three Lanes and Seven Alleys.

- The conformity exploration of the World Cultural Heritage of Three Lanes and Seven Alleys.

- The protection of tangible and intangible cultural heritages.

About us

China side

Chen Shuo, Vice president and Prof. grade of senior engineer of the Fuzhou Plan and Design Research Institute.