UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape

UNESCO is currently engaged in the development of a Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL), a 'soft-law' (non-binding) to assist Member States in meeting the urban challenges of tomorrow.

The Director-General of UNESCO has sent out the Preliminary Report on the background and rationale of this new international instrument to all Member States and the 7 Associate Members of UNESCO on 23 August 2010, accompanied by a first draft of the Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape . Member States were invited to submit comments to UNESCO by 25 December 2010, which are accessible at this site.

Comments have been received from 30 Member States in total and ICOMOS:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• China
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Dominican Republic
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Israel
• Japan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Lithuania
• Mauritius
• Monaco
• Norway
• Pakistan
• Philippines
• Poland
• Saudi Arabia
• Switzerland
• United Arab Emirates
• United States of America
• Venezuela
• ICOMOS

The Secretariat is currently in the process of integrating these comments into a second, revised draft text of a UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape . This second draft will be communicated to Member States by 25 March 2011, 7 months in advance of UNESCO's General Conference and 2 months in advance of the intergovernmental meeting of experts (category II), as requested by the General Conference, which will be held at UNESCO Headquarters from 25 to 27 May 2011.

Decisions

[2008] 179th session of the Executive Board "Proposal by the Director-General for the preparation of a revised Recommendation concerning the safeguarding and contemporary role of Historic Areas " (179 EX/Decision 25)

[2009] 181st session of the Executive Board "Full preliminary study of the technical and legal aspects of a of a revised recommendation concerning the safeguarding and contemporary role of historic areas " (181EX/Decision 29)

[2009] 35th session of the General Conference "Preliminary study on the technical and legal aspects relating to the desirability of a standard-setting instrument on the conservation of the historic urban landscape " (35C / Resolution 42) 

[2010] 185th session of the Executive Board "Invitations to the Intergovernmental Meeting of Experts (category II) related to a Draft recommendation on the conservation of the historic urban landscape " (185EX/Decision 46) 

[2011] 36th session of the General Conference "Proposals concerning the desirability of a standard-setting instrument on historic urban landscapes"

Report

[2010] Preliminary report on the draft Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape

[2011] Report and revised text of the draft Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape

Event

Intergovernmental Meeting of Experts (category II) at UNESCO Headquarters from 25 to 27 May 2011, Outcome: Report and final revised text of the draft Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape