The landscape-based approach: a future for sustainable urban heritage management?

”As the future of humanity hinges on the effective planning and management of resources, conservation has become a strategy to achieve a balance between ur- ban growth and quality of life on a sustainable basis.” At least, that is what was agreed in the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape. The main aim is to enhance the quality of the cultural landscape – human envi- ronment – while acknowledging its dynamic nature and need for change to allow communities to (continue to) prosper. This landscape concept is inclusive, as it encompasses cultural, social, economic, and environmental factors, in space and time. Subsequently, a landscape-based approach is considered both holistic- and development- minded. It is not about allowing (or not) transformation in itself, but about guiding the nature of the transformation. It addresses the future quality of the (urban) landscape and the relationships forming it. It positions urban resources, in- cluding heritage, as active change agents. The discourse on (cultural) landscapes became central to urban heritage management over the past decades, driven by sustainable development and cultural diversity. This paper presents a short review of this discourse on the landscape-in relation to heritage in theory, and reflections in supranational (heritage) policy. Next, it will present a SWOT analysis on the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape in relation to this. Finally a research agenda will be suggested to raise further understanding for the future of the landscape-based approach as a strategy to balance urban growth and quality of life on a sustainable basis.