Overview

Project Duration : April 2008 - May 2011 Lead Partner : Regensburg (Germany) Partners : - Graz (Austria) - Naples (Italy) - Sighisoara (Romania) - Liverpool (UK) - Lublin (Poland) - Poitiers (France) - Valletta (Malta) - Vilnius (Lituania) HerO received theFast Track Label with active support from the European Commission.

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The cultural heritage of historic cities not only has a role to play in making these cities attractive, it must also adapt to new economic, demographic and envi-ronmental challenges. For a long time, cultural heritage was managed as a separate subject, but today, it needs to be integrated into the overall city development policy. The nine partners in the HerO project set out to faci-litate the balance between preserving cultural heri-tage and sustainable socio-economic development in historical cities in order to strengthen their attrac-tiveness and competitiveness.

HerO Results“Heritage as Opportunity“

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MAIN RESULTSHerO developed a new approach to integrated ma-nagement designed to allow cultural heritage to play a catalysing role in sustainable development through an “Integrated Cultural Heritage Mana-gement Plan”. HerO makes four recommendations and offers a three-step methodology for success-fully implementing such a plan.

Four recommendations for policy makers who set out on the road towards the integrated management of their historical heritage

Make cultural heritage a top policy priority. This is the only way to attract funding from local and regional Managing Autho-rities, who can then act as key catalysts for further investment from the private sector and from other public funds, including European structural funds.

Develop an integrated approach, using the methodology that was proven effective by HerO, based on a strong support co-ming from the municipality. This leadership makes it possible to overcome sectorial or departmental priorities and to federate the stakeholders around a shared project.

Engage with stakeholders. Involving inhabitants and users and taking their expectations into account enables the definition of a coordinated and integrated approach that is sustainable over time.

Focus on action and delivery. This means policy and manage-rial support, cooperation with Managing Authorities to secure funding, and setting up a coordinated structure with procedures for evaluation and monitoring that make it possible to adapt to needs as they change over time.

Download HerO Policy Recommendations on urbact.eu

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A Guidebook:

How to develop an integrated cultural heritage management plan in three stepsThis 80-page book, written for municipal teams and practitio-ners, details the methodology that was put into practice by the nine partner cities in the HerO project over three years. The guidebook contains city case studies, testimonials, and recom-mendations, along with an appendix with examples of integrated plans that proved effective in various European cities classed by Unesco as World Heritage sites. Here is a summary of the three chronological steps that are recommended:

Preparatory phase: The integrated plan must have a solid ba-sis and real legitimacy, both among inhabitants and users of the city’s historical centre and in terms of meeting real needs. For that, the HerO project identified four elements that are key to the successful application of this approach. Building a Local Sup-port Group, which will be in charge of developing the integrated plan with the municipality, should be the opportunity to bring all the stakeholders to the table (local public and private along with the Managing Authority). This teamwork and control over the constraints of other partners will provide key coordination crucial for the future of the project. In a second phase, analysing the current situation (management instruments, urbanisation plans, etc.) and identifying the challenges, expectations, and leads for making progress will lead to the development of a detailed road map. This initial plan will be important for securing political sup-port from the municipality to continue the project and funding for the development phase.

Development phase: The future of the joint project to safe-guard and sustainably develop historical areas depends on this phase of consultation and coordination. The representative of the municipality in charge of writing the final plan should work clo-sely with the Local Support Group. The latter can, if necessary, be split into working groups in order to get a deeper look at all the areas of action and the stakeholders needed for integrated management of the historical centre (environment, culture, tou-rism, urban planning, communication, etc.). Public debates could provide additional opportunities for discussions that could lead to a shared vision of the future of the neighbourhood. This consensus and the previously identified challenges will then serve to formally develop the integrated management plan based on clearly defined objectives and actions. At this point of the project, it is neces-sary to begin securing funding for the action phases—notably with the support of the Managing Authorities who should be kept

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informed of the projects—and to define a framework and pro-cedure for implementations.

Implementation phase: This long-term development plan can only be implemented successfully if it associated with an on-going monitoring process. That is why it is essential, prior to the implementation phase, to identify the progress indicators and to have implemented an overall results monitoring procedure. Where applicable, these tools also enable proactive revising of certain aspects of the initial plan.

Prospects

HerO partner cities tested this integrated management metho-dology on 19 pilot projects representing €100 million of funding. Five cities have already secured partial funding for their projects through ERDF: Regensburg (Germany), Naples (Italy), Lublin (Po-land), Sighisoara (Poland), and Liverpool (United Kingdom).

“The integrated management plan is the only guarantee of ef-fective integration of the built heritage in a lively and dynamic managerial perspective”Loan Fedor Pascu, City of Sighisoara

Download HerO Guidebook on urbact.eu

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REGENSBURG, in Germany

Local ChallengesThe historical centre of Regensburg is very well preserved and the majority of the monuments have been carefully restored. The main challenge for the city is to find a faire balance between sus-tainable preservation of its heritage and its economic develop-ment, in a context of rapid population growth, which requires the creation of new infrastructure (housing, transport, telecommuni-cation, etc.).

Local Support Group ExperienceThe Local Support Group brought together every three months the major stakeholders in preserving the Unesco World Heritage Site. An external expert was hired at the beginning of 2009 to moderate these meetings and to write the integrated manage-ment plan. Working groups were created based on the six priority actions identified by the members (heritage, tourism, economic development, environmental issues and green spaces, and com-munication). In February 2009, a public consultation was an op-portunity to present the planned actions to inhabitants of the old city. Public relations initiatives also disseminated the project to a broad public.

ResultsAn integrated management plan ready to be implemented during the summer of 2011. The writing of the plan is nearly finalised. The municipality has already approved the project and should officially validate it during the summer 2011. The goal was the quick implementation of the action plan, and several projects have already kicked off. Their roll-out will be coordinated by the municipality and the main private actors involved in developing the plan. The latter will be updated regularly. The group set up for its implementation will meet every year and citizens will be consulted every two years. “Everyone is satisfied with this plan,” says Matthias Ripp, coordinator of the Regensburg World Heri-tage Site. “We really succeeded in finding a lasting way of working together between those preserving the heritage and those deve-loping the economy.”

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Overview Regensburg, Lead Partner in the HerO project, is a city with 147,000 inha-bitants located in the region of Bavaria in Germany.

Its historical centre occupies 183 hectares and houses 15,000 inhabitants.

It has been a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2006.

Members of the Local Support Group: several municipal services (monument pre-servation, planning, building authority, environment, urban development sup-port fund, economy, press office), the tourist office, the Chamber of Com-merce and Industry, the city marketing office, the local world heritage asso-ciation, the Bavarian regional office for monument preser-vation, the Bavarian Ministry of the Economy (Mana-ging Authority) and inhabitants.

Regenbsurg

Download Regensburg Local Action Plan on urbact.eu

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LUBLIN, in Poland

Local ChallengesSince the 1990s, the renovation and renewal of the historic neighbourhood of Lublin have been one of the city’s priorities. However, for the moment, the projects are funded exclusively by public funds that remain focused on buildings and infrastruc-ture and, above all, do not take into account the neighbourhood’s socio-economic challenges (diminishing population, replacement of needful inhabitants by businesses, etc.). The main objectives of Lublin’s participation in the HerO project were to create an integrated development plan and to encourage private property owners to invest.

Local Support Group ExperienceTo develop its integrated management plan, the URBACT Local Support Group in Lublin benefited from strong citizen support. The neighbourhood associations were greatly involved, which enabled the development of a qualitative plan focused on neigh-bourhood life (improving mobility, creating green areas, quality standards for renovation). An association that promotes the use of bikes in the city even took advantage of the project to promote its project with the municipality, which decided to take measures to promote this means of travel. The development of a first plan was also the object of public discussions with neighbourhood in-habitants and users. A web site was also created to collect public expectations and opinions.

ResultsParticipative approach makes progress. Despite the delay that occurred with the initial project, Ewa Kipta, HerO coordinator for the municipality, considers that the initiative was a success: “URBACT enabled us to make progress in terms of sustainable de-velopment and integrated approach, but also in setting up a parti-cipative approach for citizens. In a former Communist country like ours, where psychological and legislative obstacles remain great, the very fact of having collected the opinions of so many actors and inhabitants is a positive change. The experience showed us that many challenges remain, but the idea is taking shape.”

Lublin

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Overview 9th largest city in Poland, with 345,000inhabitants.

Its old city occupies 120 hectares12,000 people live in the historic centre.

Local Support Group members: the municipality, the historical site preservation autho-rity, neighbourhood residents and private property owners, business owners, cultural institutions, housing agencies and a number of associations.

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Integrated plan still to be finalised. The main objectives are defined and a first project was submitted to the various stake-holders in January 2011, which made it possible to identify a lack of management tools, notably in terms of indicators and players capable of leading the implementation phase to completion. The next step will consist of overcoming the hesitations of certain city cultural actors who, for the moment, are having a hard time understanding that the project integrates elements other than culture.

Creating an urban planning plan for the Podzamcze neigh-bourhood. Adjacent to the historical city centre, this neighbou-rhood was entirely rebuilt during the 1950s and is characterised by poor quality buildings that were initially intended to be tempo-rary. The presence of a nearby highway and a bus station also do damage to quality of life and the city’s architectural harmony. The municipality took advantage of the HerO project to define, with the Local Support Group and the citizens, a new urban planning plan. Consultations for it are under way. This long-term project should, among other things, reduce automobile traffic by 60% in this part of the city.

ProspectsLublin will capitalise on the HerO project as part of its application to become European Capital of Culture in 2016. A group (stem-ming from the HerO Local Support Group) was, for that matter, created to play an advisory role for the city hall in the preparation of the application.

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Download Lublin Local Action Plan on urbact.eu

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VILNIUS, in Lithuania

Local ChallengesIn 1997, the municipality and the State signed an agreement for the joint management of the investments made in the old city in order to find a balance between its development and the preser-vation of historical buildings. Yet, in reality, there is no real coope-ration between the two today. The municipality created an agency (OTRA) that is responsible for managing renewal of the historical centre. That is why Vilnius decided to join the HerO project, with the goal of producing a joint management plan piggybacking on a management structure that would be accepted by the state and be effectively applied.

Local Support Group ExperienceDuring the three years of the HerO project, the Local Support Group met around ten times and followed the methodology re-commended by the network. Their first work consisted of analy-sing the official documents and laws regarding management of the historical heritage, both on a national level and on the city level. At the same time, the OTRA agency took it upon themselves to identify all the institutions responsible for managing cultural heritage in Vilnius. After working with all the members, the group decided that the goals and action plans already described in the Vilnius Strategic Plan for 2002-2011 would serve as the basis for developing their integrated management plan. When the new 2010-2020 plan was adopted in November 2010, the group ensured that their joint-management plan integrated the new orientations.

ResultsBroader methods of action thanks to the experience of other cities in the HerO project. “In addition to our main ob-jective, which was cooperation between the municipality and the State, HerO allowed us to see what else is being done in Europe,” says Gediminas Rutkauskas, director of OTRA (the Vilnius histori-cal centre renewal agency). “Today, we have access to a huge field of examples that could both help us to convince the state to coo-perate and that can be put into practice in Vilnius as soon as the integrated plan implementation phase begins. The urban planning initiative led by Liverpool and the private leaser support actions set up by Naples are, for me, very interesting.”

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Vilnius

Overview Vilnius is the capital and the largest city in Lithuania (554,000 inhabi-tants).

Its historic centre (3.5 sq km) is among the largest in Europe.

It houses 20,000 inhabitants and was classed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1994.

Local Support Group Members: The Vil-nius historical centre renewal agency (OTRA), various municipal services (tourism, culture, development, etc.), businesses (urban planning, real estate developers), an as-sociation of neigh-bourhood private property owners, Managing Authority of Operational Pro-grammes (Ministry of Finance), public and private associa-tions.

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A first version of the joint management plan submitted for State approval during the summer of 2011. Despite the participation of the Managing Authority (Ministry of Finance) in the Local Support Group, the integrated management plan has not yet been approved on a national level, primarily due to bureaucratic issues. It will be submitted to the Ministry of Culture this summer. Its priority actions include the creation of community reception centres, improving the green areas, and financial support for private property owners to maintain and renovate heritage. The implementation of the City-State joint management plan for the old city is recorded in the 2010-2020 Vilnius Strategy Plan, which stipulates that its applica-tion must be effective for the period 2011-2012.

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Download Vilnius Local Action Plan on urbact.eu