Part of the Urban Futures – Cultural Pasts Conference

Every region of the world has its particular cultural, social and artistic heritage. In urban centres this is at its most pronounced, with the places we live in being the result history – a history of artistic visions, social and cultural forces, planning initiatives, and engineering projects. As UNESCO points out, in thinking about the future of any given place, we are obliged to build on its past and its present: its artistic heritage and craft traditions, its design vernaculars and regional practices, its varied buildings and urban plans, its neighborhood bonds, economic conditions, social norms, and more. A city and its cultural life then, are living questions – past, present and future.