Revealing the level of tension between cultural heritage and development in World Heritage cities-part 1

Even though, in theory, the role of cultural heritage as a source for generating sustainable development is as feasible as recommendable; in practice, seems to be getting farther away from reality. As a consequence, we are now facing an ever reached number of tensioned cities around the world. This paper is willing to survey the practical rationale behind this tension; when focus in World Heritage cities. Meaning, all urban settlements (city, town, village or township) with properties inscribed at the World Heritage list located in (or at the outskirts) of their urban areas. As part of a broader international research entitled "Outstanding Universal Value, World Heritage cities and Sustainability", the results of this survey will also allow us to discern the best practices being currently undertaken to assess the Outstanding Universal Value, when correlating all practices with the level of tension between cultural heritage and development in these World Heritage cities.