3rd International Conference THE IMPORTANCE OF PLACE Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina October 21 -24. 2015. (original) (raw)

Main Goal of this Conference is to promote environmental and sustainable performance measures for existing heritage buildings without adversely impacting their cultural heritage significance. The reuse of heritage buildings has environmental, social, and economic benefits - the three pillars of sustainable development. Heritage conservation is protecting our history, past, present and future. It is the duty of every one of us. Heritage preservation can be considered as an investment in our community that rewards us today and leaves an invaluable resource for future generations. Cultural heritage professionals recognize the synergistic relationship between conservation and sustainability. However, the role of heritage conservation in achieving sustainability has not been well recognized, nor have heritage needs been well integrated into sustainability initiatives. This failure, in some instances, has led to conflict between heritage conservation efforts and environmental regulation. The UN Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements and the Habitat Agenda of 1996 explored the ramifications of Rio for how we organize the global built environment. The 2003 ‘Global Plan of Action’ stated 2: ‘Conservation, rehabilitation and culturally sensitive adaptive reuse of urban, rural and architectural heritage are also in accordance with the sustainable use of natural and human made resources. Access to culture and the cultural dimension of development is of the utmost importance and all people should be able to benefit from such access.’ Local residents will be encouraged to participate in heritage conservation and sustainable tourism development through awareness raising and income generating activities. Training and support will be provided on heritage-related small business development and design of marketable products. We have recognized that “globalization” engenders, but also understand the futility of resisting its wide spread effects. But architecture will always be “forming” a Place. Architecture is not only the skin in which we are living, it is always a reflection of a specific philosophy of space, movement, life, presence, and has a strong impact on the human spirit. Traditional architecture –our built heritage is deeply associated with nature; it strongly affects our spiritual condition, provides us with a sort of feeling of peace and relaxes. Misunderstanding of heritage has always led to destruction by fashionable trends or internationalist movements, because they are rejecting or marginalizing its own past. This relation not only to exist but we must add the sense of the relation between memory, territory and the quality of a meaningful life which underlies the associative heritage work in considering the importance of place; we highlight the concepts of community resilience and risk management, key aspects of a response to change, while we define the word “sustainability”, the responsibility of us living people towards the heritage we received and towards the heritage we will leave to our successors, in order to play a pivotal role. All this leads us to a conclusion that there is a need for a new responsible architectural ethical design that will surpass the ego, the pretentious and abstract architectural concepts, but will result in a “dynamic process” through design and buildings life cycle. The British guidance on the Historic Environment, PPG 15, states that: ‘The presence of the physical survivals of our past adds to the quality of our lives, by enhancing the familiar and cherished local scene and sustaining the sense of local distinctiveness which is so important an aspect of the character and appearance of our towns, villages and countryside.’ In addition, many of the large historic buildings are threatened by demolition due to their lack of modern amenities. Thus not only is the context threatened but also the existing historic structures. Many of the estates also had landscapes by well-known designers which are generally not documented and often in poor condition." One important dimension of urban protection process is aimed at keeping (preserving) townscapes that people can relate to, where the signs and meanings are clear and the qualities of ambient are recognizable. Most of the conservationists agree that preserving the entire building with its co-relation between structure, interior and exterior is an appropriate course of action. Every effort needs to adapt to the demands of safety and heritage protection in terms of materials and preservation of the original structure. Any intervention will result in specific changes, causing loss of buildings’ authenticity, which means that one must be very careful when deciding on and implementing an intrusive intervention method. Each case should generate an answer on its own. Different case studies must provide us with knowledge to be used in all future interventions.