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THE MEANINGS OF HISTORIC URBAN LANDSCAPE

Gábor Sonkoly est docteur en histoire, diplômé de l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) de Paris. Il est directeur d’études à l’université Eötvös
Loránd de Budapest (Hongrie), chef de département de l’Atelier-Centre franco-hongrois en sciences sociales, Budapest (Hongrie), et coordinateur général du
programme Erasmus Mundus «Territoires européens : Identité et développement», subventionné par la Commission Européenne. Ses recherches portent sur
l’histoire urbaine, l’histoire du territoire, l’histoire du patrimoine culturel et la construction nationale (xviiie et xxe siècles).

The notion of Historic Urban which is uniting loaded terms, inscribed sites out of more than The Vienna Memorandum and • the term of cultural heri-
Landscape (HUL) is a fairly which connote different, even 900”.4 the notion of HUL should be tage gradually incorpora-
new term, which has gained contradictory meanings in dif- understood in the conceptual ted almost every traces of
a considerable significance in ferent social sciences. Urbanization and the changing evolution of the term of cultural the past (first objects and
the discussions of international As an urban historian, I propose character of city centres went heritage, since all the important monuments, then cities,
organizations of urban heritage a lecture of this term in the fol- parallel with this extensive scope international documents on landscapes, species and even
protection. Similarly to other lowing three phases: the birth of the international heritage urban conservation6 are centred human communities);
terms of the cultural heritage of the notion of HUL and its protection, so it is no wonder around this term shaping it as • great theories (ideologies)
paradigm, it does not stem importance; a swift conceptual that the first clashes between well as codifying complex social, explaining social develop-
from academia, but it will cer- analysis of HUL as opposed to the two took place in the most cultural, and economic develop- ment were fundamentally
tainly effect academic debates Historic Area based on the dif- recent decade. In certain cit- ments related to the changing questioned;
on the urban phenomenon, ference of the twin-notions of ies like Cologne, Dresden or character of our perception of • accordingly, humanities
since it concerns the fields of space and territory; bridging the Vienna, this conflict got inter- the past. Although the elements as well as social sciences
interest of several human and birth of the concept of (His- national attention, in others, as of urban area protection could be (including economics and
social sciences. Two of its ini- toric) Urban Centre to that of in Budapest, it remained on the traced back to the 1933 Athens urban studies) undertook a
tiators define this term as the the notion of HUL. UNESCO-Member State level, Charter, it was the 1964 Venice set of paradigm shifts com-
contemporary notion to grasp but the inherent discrepancy Charter, which determined the monly labelled by the term
the utopia of urban conserva- THE IMPORTANCE OF between the various social actors frames of city protection and of “turn”;
tion in their most recent book.1 THE BIRTH OF HUL called for a general solution, or, the 1972 World Heritage Con- • linguistic or/and cultural
By introducing the notion of The General Conference of at least a general framework of vention placed it to the general turns in the above men-
utopia, they wish to empathize UNESCO adopted the Rec- problem solving. context of heritage protection tioned fields suited per-
the “plurality of meanings”2 of ommendation on the HUL in based on sites. fectly the multiplication of
the conservation of the built November 2011,3 what proves Finally, it was the city of identities;
environment as well as to place that this seven-year-old term Vienna, recognised as a world It did not happen by chance • the multiplication of iden-
this term in the history of urban has undisputedly gained a major heritage site in 2001 and soon that the UNESCO codified and tities and the strengthe-
planning. Their definition shows importance in debates concern- after threatened to be classi- institutionalized the cultural ning of local voices lead to
clearly the ultimate complex- ing the urban centres all over fied as a site in danger because heritage in the early 1970’s. The a wider scope of democra-
ity of contemporary conserva- the world. In the Draft of the of the planned construction of shaping of the notion of cultural tization and the academic
tion of urban historic areas, Recommendation, the necessity high towers near the city centre, heritage went in hands with sev- recognition of these social
which necessitates not only the of this high level definition of which hosted the first confer- eral social and cultural changes, changes;
expertise of urban planners, the term is partially explained ence on HUL in 2005 and gave out of which I only list those • By the beginning of the
architects and economists, but, by the large number of the cit- place to the definition of the ones, which are relevant to our 1980’s, urban planning
that of historians, sociologists, ies concerned: “Today, historic Vienna Memorandum,5 which topic: could not avoid these deve-
social geographers and anthro- cities constitute the largest heri- was the first official tentative to • the future oriented moder- lopments: the expansion of
pologists. These latters, however, tage “category” on the World describe the HUL. nist approach was gradually the cultural heritage para-
were much less involved in the Heritage List, with over 250 replaced/paired by the post- digm brought new aspects
shaping of the concept of HUL, modern presentism;

perspectives n. 8 — automne - hiver | autumn - winter 2012

into the shaping of the city In line with the traditions of to the inventory of architects, his role of a voyeur to that of a forefathers as well as the gradual
centres; French history writing, Daniel urbanists, and alike, so the mediator. The rising awareness discredit of great modern social
• ambitious modernizing Nordman suggests that space appropriation is more specific of the locals is not just reflected theories mitigated the origi-
plans were disfavoured to becomes territory through the than that of landscape. Accord- by the legislation of the par- nal vigour of amending social
urban habilitation in the process of identity building and ingly, urban landscape was cho- ticipative principles, but by the problems and inequalities by
city centres; through the marking of places of sen to become the appropriate frames of monument protection urban planning. Since the built
• the surroundings of the memories in a given territory.7 term to describe and to incor- as well as by the changing fields environment failed to reflect the
historic monuments gained The appropriation of space and porate all the complex changes and characters of scholarship. aimed ideal society, moreover,
more and more attention the creation of a comprehensi- which have been happening to this ideal society was harder and
from the point of view of ble territory takes place through the city centres since the 1970’s. HUL takes into account the harder to envision, pragmatism
protection, what valorised denomination and delimitation. complexity of present-day (his- and protection of the existing
old buildings with less Accordingly, the level of ter- There are several common char- toric) city centres: they cannot be environment became the norm.
monumental/architectural ritoriality of spatial entities can acteristics of the protection of described through their unique In other words, urban planning
interest; be measured by the character urban sites, which are present functions (traditional urban has experienced its cultural turn,
• a sort of urban hermeneu- of their appropriation, denomi- from the very first documents: activities), by simply oppos- as ideologies were gradually
tics developed gradually in nation and delimitation of the the demand for conservation, ing to other parts of the city replaced by identities.
urban planning of historic given society or community. the special attention given to (sociologically, geographically,
city centres, in which not Certain terms belong totally to local urban practice, the survey from the point of view of urban Considering all these social and
just the author’s (city plan- the spatial inventory (plain, for approach, the recommendation planning, etc.), or by their mere cultural developments, HUL
ner’s, architect’s, etc.) will, example, is not appropriated, has for programming and planning, aesthetical value (monument seems to be the proper term
but the receptor’s (inhabi- no special denomination and the involvement of the locals in protection). They are considered to describe the contents of the
tant’s, stakeholder’s etc.) has vague limits), while others the decision-making processes, as a bearer of a local identity, contemporary historic urban
perception was also taken are totally territorial (country, and the educative value of the which is expressed by specific - centres and the doubts related
into consideration; for example, is appropriated by historic settings. Thus these ele- intangible cultural - practices. to its definition. It also aims
• the widening scope of a nation, has a significant name ments did not justify the choice The definition of the city centre the reintegration of the historic
stakeholders lead to the and has borders). Each appro- of a new term. Among other by its identity needs a new aca- (protected) area to the rest of
legislative process of parti- priation has its own history. causes, the most recent docu- demic toolbox, which supposes the city. The lower level of ter-
cipation in several Western There are certain periods, which ments emphasize the impor- a new (post-turns) set-up of the ritorialisation expressed by the
countries. prefer the elaboration of certain tance of the appearance of the elements of traditional disci- choice of landscape allows a
terms: 19th century European intangible cultural heritage in plines. In return, the concerned larger scope of social actors to
The social and cultural back- nation-building was really keen the UNESCO’s cultural heri- disciplines themselves are due identify themselves with this
ground of the 1972 World Her- on the definition of country tage management. The imple- to change by this assemblage. territorial entity, but its inher-
itage Convention had been con- ent reference to the intangible
siderably changing in the last cultural heritage leads to the
decades of the 20th century: the The definition of the city centre by its identity needs a new academic questions of utility of this quite
expansion of the notion of cul- toolbox, which supposes a new (post-turns) set-up of the elements of recently defined notion in an
tural heritage lead to the contin- traditional disciplines. In return, the concerned disciplines themselves are ever changing urban setting.
uous redefinition of the urban due to change by this assemblage. The interrelatedness of place,
heritage. The protected city cen- local community, local practices
tres were no longer considered and local identities through leg-
as merely aesthetically attrac- and fatherland, for example. mentation of the new term of THE (HISTORIC) URBAN islation and use of urban cul-
tive and/or historically signifi- In certain cases (in France, for landscape seems to be explained CENTRE AND THE HUL tural heritage protection has
cant ensembles of buildings and instance), both became clearly by this expansion of the notion In the European context, most presented itself as a new excit-
monuments, but as social habi- territorialised, i.e. appropriated, of cultural heritage. Whereas of the protected urban settings, ing field of study for the social
tats, which should be preserved while in others (in several Cen- townscape refers to the totality i.e. the notion of the urban (his- sciences.
in harmony with their natural tral and Eastern European cases, of the material/tangible cultural toric) centre came into exis-
settings and through mobiliz- for instance), there are still dif- heritage sites and objects of an tence, when the privileged cities 
ing their residing communities. ficulties to delimitate countries urban settlement, landscape is lost their territorial intactness
Though the World Heritage or fatherlands, not mentioning supposed to depict the imma- through the territorialisation of References
List includes a few protected the process of superimposing terial/intangible aspects of the the modern state, what made 1. Franceso Bandarin & Ron Van Oers,
urban views (for example Buda- the two. urban cultural heritage. Theoret- their city-walls disappear and The Historic Urban Landscape. Managing
pest /1987/ and Paris /1991/), ically, the landscape could unite made their territory integrate Heritage in an Urban Century, Wiley/
but the vast majority of pro- The terms of the UNESCO the levels of local practices by the suburbs. The previously Blackwell, 2012, p. 9-10.
tected urban sites refer to built reveal an evolution.8 Both area the inclusion of the individual closed cities must have opened 2. Bandarin & Van Oers (2012), p. 10.
monuments or a built area of and landscape are appropri- (through his or her view), the themselves, both physically 3. Bandarin & Van Oers (2012) p. 12.
historic interest. ated and designated, especially community (through its value- and socially, to the surrounding 4. Recommendation on the Historic Urban
with the “historic” attribute. bound definition) and the soci- areas. The formerly intact closed Landscape. A New International Instru-
THE HUL BETWEEN The difference of the level of ety (by taking the genius loci into cities/towns, became open city ment. UNESCO, 2010, p. 2.
SPACE AND TERRITORY territorialisation, i.e. appropria- account). According to the will centres and the objects of the 5. World Heritage and Contemporary Ar-
Numerous UNESCO Conven- tion of phenomena defined by of the heritage preservers, land- waves of the modernizing or chitecture, Managing the Historic Urban
tions and Recommendations these terms can be, however, scape expresses the “layering of historicizing urban planning. Landscape, International Conference,
show the conceptual evaluation judged by their delimitation. the significances”,9 i.e. the pro- The evolving concern for urban Vienna, 12-14.5.2005. Report. City of
of the notion of the urban centre While the area should be clearly tection of different levels of tra- conservation often (re)separated Vienna –UNESCO.
as a site of protection from the delimitated by border(line)s, the ditional urban practices through the protected areas from the rest 6. Bandarin & Van Oers (2012) p. 59-88.
mid-1970’s up to the 2011 Rec- landscape has no limits, or its preserved tangible frames and of the city. 7. Daniel Nordman offers an excellent
ommendation. In the beginning, limits are ambulant: they fol- through the documentation of synthesis in his introduction to his book
the historic was used to describe low the gaze of the observer. these practices. By the last decades of the 20th about the borders of France: Daniel Nord-
the city centre. Later, the historic On one hand, landscape seems century, however, the urban man, Les frontières de France. De l’espace au
was considered more accurate to define a lower level of appro- Consequently, the lower level of planning gradually became less territoire, xvie- xixe siècles, Paris, Gallimard,
till the 2005 Vienna Memoran- priation, on the other hand, this territorialisation of landscape, confident concerning its aims 1999.
dum, when the historic urban appropriation is more individual allows to incorporate a broader and tools. Following the charac- 8. Ron Van Oers, DRAFT elements of
came to use. These conceptual and more flexible than that of scope of stakeholders. Whereas teristics of the cultural heritage a Future International Standard-Setting
shifts seem to follow the social area. If the replacement of area area or even townscape are paradigm, from its modernist Instrument on the Conservation of Historic
and cultural changes listed pre- proved to be necessary in the determined by an external hand (future-based) approach it was Urban Landscape, UNESCO World Heri-
viously. Since the three terms documents protecting the city or view (by the voyeur10), land- sliding slowly to a more presen- tage Centre, 2008, p. 3.
refer to spatial entities and seem centres, one can ask why it was scape adds to this the view of tist one, in which conservation 9. The distinction between the voyeur
to reveal a coherent develop- not changed to the more urban the walker. In this sense, the aca- gained a primary importance. and the walker is used by Michel De
ment in time, their analysis by specific notion of townscape. demic, who can be a monument Accumulating dissatisfaction Certeau, L’Invention du quotidien, 1. Arts
the methods of social history This term also includes the gaze protector, an architect or a his- expressed by successive genera- de faire ; 2. Habiter, cuisiner, éd. établie et
can be easily justified. of the observer, so less territori- torian, is expected to change the tions of urban planners concern- présentée par Luce Giard, Gallimard, Pa-
alised than area, but it belongs scales of his/her view alternating ing the ideas and deeds of their ris, 1990.

perspectives n. 8 — automne - hiver | autumn - winter 2012