9 September 2010

The importance of citizen participation in the preservation of our cultural heritage

Symposium on “integrated management plans in historic towns – involving the citizen”

2 October 2010, Kayseri (Turkey)

Opening speech

Farid MUKHAMETSHIN

Regional Chair of the Congress Committee on Culture and Education

Mayor Özhaseki

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is an honour for me to be invited to speak at the opening of this Symposium on “integrated management plans in historic towns – involving the citizen” here in Kayseri.

Mayor Özhaseki: your city is in such a wonderful setting, surrounded by the mountains of Erciyes Dagi and Kara Dagi.  Thank you for your warm welcome and for your generous invitation to host not only this symposium but also the meeting of the Congress Committee on Culture and Education yesterday.  We are honoured to be here.

Ladies and Gentlemen

The Council of Europe first acknowledged the crucial role of local and regional democracy back in 1957 when it founded the predecessor to our Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.  At these levels, democracy is closest to citizens and thus is best placed to be aware of and to meet citizens needs and wishes.

This also goes for our cultural heritage: the local level is best placed to manage and develop our historic towns and cities, as well as to adapt and implement national heritage policies to local requirements.  Towns and cities also have the important role of reconciling the preservation of our cultural heritage with economic development, especially in a time when many of Europe’s towns and cities are still suffering the effects of the recent economic and financial crisis.

The Congress has done much work in the past to promote the sustainable development of historic cities and our cultural heritage.  In 2002, and as part of the programme for the preparation for the celebration of the 1000th Anniversary of the foundation of the city of Kazan, my home town, an international symposium on the “Diversity of cultures in historic cities-key to sustainable future” was held in Kazan in the Russian Federation.  The symposium recognised that the preservation of our historic heritage is far more than retaining old monuments.  Most communities have a web of physical, social and cultural structures built up over decades, if not centuries, which constitute the collective achievement of generations and act as an inspiration for the future.  The participants concluded that the protection of historic buildings must be a key part of other policies for the development of the urban environment and underlined the value of tourism as a catalyst in urban improvement.

Our report of 2006 on “heritage and modernity” examined ways of giving new life to our historic sites and buildings, of using them in a sustainable manner for the benefit of our citizens, in other words our guidelines aimed to reconcile heritage and modernity.

Last year, we took up the idea expressed in Kazan about tourism and looked more closely at how to develop a sustainable model for cultural tourism.  Cultural tourism has an important contribution to make in increasing mutual understanding and consolidating peace and promoting European values, however authorities must adopt a responsible and community-based tourism approach so as to avoid the commercial over-exploitation of historic sites.

Finally, the Congress is firmly committed to people’s participation in all aspects of local life and is eager to discover new ways of guaranteeing citizens a say in decision-making, my colleague Gudrun Molser‑Törnström will speak at greater length on this subject later on.  This symposium today on integrated management plans is of interest to us to see how the towns represented here today have been able to find a balance between the needs of all stakeholders, and to learn about the participation structures they have set up to enable full participation of their residents.

Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, I wish you a fruitful and informative morning’s work.