Reflections of an Expert Yukio Nishimura - Urban Heritage in the Era of the Pandemic

World Heritage Cities Programme https://whc.unesco.org/en/cities/ Urban Heritage in the Era of the Pandemic in Asia and the Pacific In these difficult days of the pandemic with limited activities in streets and devastating economic impacts in the urban heritage sites, we inevitably must ponder the future of our historic towns and urban heritage - and the future of their inhabitants. This forced pause in the rush of urban life is an unwelcome but rare opportunity to rethink the real value of urban heritage. Urban heritage was not created for the enjoyment of visitors and tourists but has value for the society of which it is a part. Urban heritage in the era of the pandemic reminds us to look deeper into the histories, values, beliefs, desires, power and humanity that are materialized and expressed in the built forms of urban heritage. At the core are the fundamental values that created the components and attributes of urban heritage in the first place. These essential values are the identity of the local communities: a part of their history at another time. Urban heritage belongs firstly to the local communities. Hence the future plans and visions of historic urban areas too, must belong to the local communities and visitors from the region. World Heritage cities are no exception to this. In the rush of daily life before the pandemic, in the race for tourism and receiving of large numbers of visitors worldwide, there was no moment or space to consider the heritage values and meanings of the sites with their local communities. Only this unimaginable global disaster of the pandemic has forced the borders to shut down and made us realize that local communities are the ultimate custodians of urban heritage. This enormous and unthinkable pandemic has accelerated a shift in the conventional framework of the socioeconomic ecosystem to a ‘new normal’ way of life with fewer visitors, slower economy, e-commerce and remote work among other things. Everyone must accept these changes and this shift now. The socio-economic impacts on urban heritage in the era of the pandemic in the Asia and the Pacific region is the same as in other parts of the world. We are reminded to recognize once again the local communities as custodians of urban heritage and as those who most intimately engage with it and give it meaning. In the best circumstances, they are also the ones who most appreciate the value of their urban heritage. On the one hand, man urban heritage sites in Asia and the Pacific had been and are still heavily populated; communal activities in and around the heritage sites are also extremely rich keeping alive a sense of community and identity. On the other hand, local communities in many countries of the Asia and the Pacific region are witnessing the vast transformation of social infrastructure caused by the rapid urbanization and economic growth. These have, in turn, created a series of problems including the commodification of urban heritage. The pandemic has forced an abrupt halt to tourism in historic urban centres and slowed down the economy. This is the moment to pause and look down at our feet to rediscover the importance of local communities as primary custodians of urban heritage and the ones who give it the most meaning by the way they engage with it. In the era of the corona virus, we must recognize that urban heritage provides us with an unprecedented opportunity to re-envision the future of historic towns and cities with a central role for local communities – globally, but especially in Asia and the Pacific region. Yukio Nishimura, Professor at Kokugakuin University, Emeritus Professor, University of Tokyo, and Former President, ICOMOS Japan, September 2020