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The UNESCO label of World Heritage can attract a high number of tourists to heritage properties for their Outstanding Universal Values (OUV). Although international studies have demonstrated the World Heritage system can contribute to stimulating cultural tourism and boosting the local economy, how this heritage-led development process promotes urban conservation and morphological changes in cities is yet to be explored adequately. This paper aims to explore the urban morphology of a historic Chinese city after its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List, taking the Old Town of Lijiang as case. The methods of spatial plan analysis and discourse analysis are used to analyse the data. The research findings have demonstrated that, theoretically, the Conzenian approach of urban morphology can be an effective framework for World Heritage OUV-monitoring. Methodologically, the analysis of spatial plans and multi-stakeholder interviews can reveal local urban morphology from macro to micro levels. Case-specifically in Lijiang, urban physical characteristics and building structures have been well maintained while traditional social fabric and neighbourhood networks have almost vanished. This research has incorporated the urban morphology approach into (world) heritage management in China, as well as worldwide, in order to maintain the balance between urban conservation and economic growth.

The historic core of Rosetta, Egypt, is a possible nomination for UNESCO World Heritage status. However, the enduring controversy over the conservation scheme for Rosetta’s old market has highlighted the difficulties in reaching a satisfactory decision. The challenge lies in determining the best location for relocating the market without affecting locals’ life and culture of locals as part of the urban built heritage. The main objective of this study is to present a model of decision-making criteria, which can have many applications in heritage conservation decision making for preserving heritage in historic cities that are distinguished by religious, societal and economic activities. A Multi Criteria Decision Making model (MCDM) is a framework for project selection and is developed utilizing the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution; (TOPSIS) method, in reference to UNESCO guidelines, and Space Syntax analysis. The joint analytical framework helps to select the best location for the market that would promote the development of the area while also preserving the identity of the historic core. By adopting this proposed joint model, it is possible to meet social needs during urban development. Thus, the outcome of this study is to achieve a balance between the dual elements that the community works to achieve its integration with the historical urban fabric and at the same time allows development and tourism and tries to exist and takes part of the development plan, and promotes the identity of the city in terms of heritage, commercial and cultural activities as well as benefit from achieving development. This model can be tested against development plans for cities of historical economic values in a variety of circumstances extended with other specific criteria related to the context of the case study under analysis and development study, in addition to UNESCO guidelines to ensure its reliability. An urban conservation and development policy will enable the city’s authorities to register its historical core as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This research outcome validates a model for decision-making assessment that can be utilized to assess historic cities that include historical commercial activities.

Journal of cultural heritage 47, 199-207 (2021). doi:10.1016/j.culher.2020.08.002, Published by Elsevier Science, Amsterdam [u.a.]

The paper deals with the problem of the seismic stability of excavation fronts in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, a famous UNESCO World heritage site near Napoli, Italy, buried under 4–6 m of volcanic ashes and pumices during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The attention is focused on the Insula dei Casti Amanti, a block of masonry buildings in the city centre partly excavated in recent years. Ground motion recorded on outcropping rock compatible with the seismo-tectonic background and the spectrum specified by the Italian code for the life-safety limit state criteria were used for wave propagation analysis. Both 1-D and 2-D Seismic Response Analyses were carried out to identify both surface (topographic) and valley (morphology) effects. This study allowed to quantify in a detailed manner the seismic demand in the excavation fronts. Re-profiling interventions based on the classical pseudo-static approach would be too invasive for the archaeological site. On the contrary, the alternative Newmark-type approach, based on the evaluation of the permanent rotations of the potentially unstable soil mass, is much more appropriate for a sustainable definition of slope stabilising interventions.

While political ecology has long documented struggles over conservation spaces, little attention has been paid to the temporal aspects of these struggles. Conservation areas are often described as timeless, and the protection of timeless nature has been used as an argument to legitimize the dispossession of land from rural populations. Timelessness, however, is not just imposed on landscapes. It is the end result of complex mediations of contradictory temporalities that each establish different relationships between the future, the past, and the present. Drawing on the author’s material on the struggle over the Dukuduku Forest, bordering South Africa’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, this article examines the temporal aspects of that struggle. An examination of the contestation surrounding the park alerts us to the importance of time and temporal processes in political ecology analyses. Specifically, the case shows that the future has repercussions on the present through anticipation, and that political struggles, over which realities are allowed to emerge, are deeply entangled, temporal processes fraught with contradictions. This article therefore constitutes a call for paying closer attention to temporal processes in political ecology analyses.

Volubilis is the most important archaeological site in Morocco, considered as a UNESCO world heritage site since 1997. Unfortunately, the sustainability of the site is in danger by the many degradation patterns detected on the site. Urgent interventions are required in order to consolidate and restore the monuments of the site. In this paper, the efficiency of nanolime as a consolidation treatment for calcarenite stone, the main construction stone of the site, was assessed. To create degraded reference samples, calcarenite samples were subjected to two accelerated aging tests: a thermal shock test and a salt crystallization test. The two tests created damage quite similar to that of the site, namely cracking and surface degradation respectively. These samples were then treated with nanolime according to a protocol defined in relation to the stone properties and the concentration of the product used. After the application of nanolime, the samples were characterized using non-destructive tests (P-wave velocity, capillary absorption, surface hardness, and colorimetric tests) depending on the type of stone damage. On cracked samples, the treatment acted on the surface of the stone while cracks were still present in depth. On salt crystallized samples, the treatment was efficient as it helped recover the lost surface cohesion. Therefore, the nanolime treatment is efficient for stones that are degraded at the surface (sanding, alveolization, scaling) but less so for cracked stones of the Volubilis site.

n the present work, the corrosion affectation of an artistic and historical building, declared UNESCO World Heritage Site and constructed with AISI 1012 UPN profiles, was investigated. Micro-Raman and microscopy approaches highlight the complementarity and versatility of these techniques to evaluate the macroscopic and microscopic effect of the corrosion products in such reinforcing structures. The rust phases have been assessed by separating the oxide layers according to their environment placement and contaminants contact. The composition of iron oxides and oxyhydroxides in the metal surface depend not only on the oxygen concentration, but also on other elements that penetrated into the porous layers, as for example, chorine ions, sulfur ions, and microorganisms. Taking into account the scarce information on the indoor corrosion of AISI 1012 steel, results obtained in this work are expected to help for understanding the long-term impact of such oxides and oxyhydroxides on the material durability, as well as on its structural maintenances.

Beijing marble has been used as a construction material for cultural heritage sites in Beijing area, China. The Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, and the Thirteen Ming Tombs are classified as UNESCO World Heritage sites. In this paper, detailed experimental and analytical investigations of two representative sub-types of Beijing marble are presented. Marble samples were collected from a historical quarry in Dashiwo County of Beijing’s Fangshan District. Mineral and chemical constituents were investigated through petrographical observations, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis. Physical parameters (e.g., density, porosity, water absorption, pore size distribution, P-wave velocity (VP), seismic anisotropy (AVP), hardness, etc.) and mechanical parameters (i.e., uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and Young’s modulus (E)) were tested in accordance with British and Chinese standards. Correlations among tested parameters were also analyzed to better understand the internal relations among different properties and to aid in evaluating unattainable parameters during in-site heritage site assessments. To get a more comprehensive understanding of the marble’s characteristics, we collected and analyzed those physico-mechanical data reported by previous researchers. Additionally, the weathering mechanisms and resistance of the marbles were discussed from different perspectives. The results of this study provide scientific data on the properties of Beijing dolomitic marble, which have practical use for weathering assessments and reconstruction of cultural heritage sites. Additionally, the results of this study provide a reliable reference for studying worldwide marbles with different geological origins.

Advanced microscopy analyses are capable of revealing particles that are existent in the Alhambra, Spain, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, at minimal levels owing to the detailed directing on ultra-fine (UFPs) and nano-particles (NPs) of importance. This applied technique is one of the most used to natural samples. Between the diverse archaeological places in the planet, Alhambra is one of the most important representations of Hispano-Islamic architecture and art significant Muslim virtuosity in its conclusive European periods, thus helping to offer scientific material about the still little studied Islamic art. In this study, advanced microscopy analyses—has been applied to understand minor portions of UFPs and NPs of pollutants in external walls exposed to weathering. Several materials identified by X-Ray Diffraction can be detected using HR-TEM/FE-SEM and vice versa. The occurrence of anglesite, gypsum, hematite containing PHEs, and several organic compounds associated with modifications due to moisture and pollution was also demonstrated.

Fungi are powerful biodeteriogens and when colonizing stone monuments are often responsible for severe physical, chemical and aesthetical modifications. Recently the old cathedral of Coimbra (Portugal) was awarded the UNESCO World Heritage Site distinction as an integrant part of the “University of Coimbra- Alta and Sofia” area. The limestone walls in this cathedral show clear visual signs of biological colonization and biodeterioration. The aim of this work was to obtain an extensive fingerprint of the biodeteriorating fungal agents in this affected ancient limestone through the application of traditional cultivation and modern Next Generation Sequencing techniques. Due to high diversity of distinctive biodeterioration phenomena affecting this site, a rapport between the identified fungal populations and the different biodeterioration types found was also established and their importance for the monument preservation discussed. The results obtained through the application of this approach, not only allowed a robust characterization of the fungal communities colonizing this monument, but also elucidated that distinct fungal communities are dissimilar according to the type of biodeterioration analyzed. In addition, we verified that both cultivation and metagenomics methodologies should be employed synergistically in limestone biodeterioration studies in order to tackle inherent limitations regarding both techniques.

This paper aims at investigating whether the inscriptions in the UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) sites influence tourism attractiveness. An empirical analysis, based on dynamic panel data methodology, was implemented to study the effect of WHL cultural and natural properties inclusion on international tourist arrivals in Italian provinces in the 2000–2014 time span. Results suggest that being awarded with a World Heritage recognition, together with the province’s wealth, environmental habits and the openness to external markets, may influence attractiveness, confirming a tourism-enhancing role of the List, beyond the simple heritage preservation.

The current study aims to investigate souvenir suppliers' perceptions of authentic souvenirs in the context of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Laos, Luang Prabang (LPB). The findings suggest that authentic souvenirs need to integrate culture and history to represent place identity of the destination, to be handmade and produced within LPB, to have a unique, attractive presentation, and to require local-specific skills of local artisans or recognisable person for craftsmanship. The research finds that attitudes toward and willingness to sell mass-produced souvenirs are more typical of souvenir vendors because of the limited business resources. This paper discusses the suppliers’ consensus on the issue of origin and locality of souvenirs, which is a strong pursuit of objective authenticity of souvenirs, but challenges exist, in particular, increasing demand over the volume of local souvenir production and a fierce competition with international traders in the local market.

The Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site (the Jurassic Coast) was inscribed in 2001 on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List. The inscription recognises the Jurassic Coast’s outstanding universal value in the history of geological science and thought, particularly its special contribution to Mesozoic palaeontology and stratigraphy and evidence of coastal processes and geomorphology. This Special Issue of the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association celebrates this Site’s unique contribution to geosciences and education, and sets the scene for further research and collaboration.

Signs in Upper Palaeolithic art provide an important criterion of assessing cultural affinities or differences. The Swabian Jura in southern Germany and Grotte Chauvet in the Ardeche region in southern France – both inscribed in the list of the UNESCO world heritage - supply the most important examples of Aurignacian art known so far. Of a particular interest in this respect are characteristic types of signs which can be associated with depictions of animals. This paper examines the distinctive ways in which this association is realized in these two regions, including the question which type of signs was employed. Despite of the small data base and the lack of sophisticated statistical tests, this study may help to provide first hints to the question if the Aurignacian groups of the Ardeche and the Swabian Jura, whose areas are linked by important river systems, used similar or different sets of signs and in which animal contexts these signs were used. These results may give indications to what extent these groups were part of the same or different cultural entities and subsequently shared feelings of a common ethnicity and belief-world or not.

In this study, TL and OSL dating were applied respectively to bricks and mortars taken from a few key structures of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Modena (northern Italy). The samples came from the Cathedral and the Ghirlandina Tower, built between the end of the XII century and the first half of the XIV century AD. TL dating of bricks showed that we were dealing with the well-known phenomenon of re-use of ancient Roman bricks. However, it was also possible to discover and date quite precisely a previously unknown renovation phase in the Cathedral apse area (XVI century). Regarding the OSL mortar dating, both Multi-Grain and Single Grain techniques were applied on quartz grains, possibly well bleached during mortar preparation. OSL gave good results for one sample from the Cathedral and three from the Ghirlandina Tower. The other gave ages much older than expected, indicating the possible uncompleted bleaching of the quartz grains as the main problem of this dating application. Finally, the application of the Bayesian statistical approach, reducing the error associated with the data, supported a new building chronology, in particular for the Ghirlandina Tower.

Spain is one of the most prominent countries regarding UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS), most of which were selected to preserve unique architectonical ensembles. These sites are usually characterized by the extensive use of stone as building material, which has a dominant influence on their overall appearance and value. This paper provides an overview of the general state of the building stones and the historical source quarries associated with UNESCO WHS in Spain. Ten Spanish UNESCO WHS were selected for the study. The analysis considered two main perspectives: 1) the scientific knowledge about building stones and historical quarries; 2) their conservation state, administrative situation, and social value. The case studies revealed a highly uneven degree of knowledge of the building stones and, especially, of the quarries. The lack of specific protection, touristic promotion or outreach activities is another issue that affects historical quarries, due to low political interest, in most cases. Some key elements to guarantee the conservation of historical quarries as part of the UNESCO WHS are: administrative protection that guarantees preservation particularly of the quarry landscape, awareness about the conservation of historic faces by mining companies, reopening historical quarries for restoration of monuments, limiting the maximum extraction volume, promoting scientific studies and enhancing social perception and tourism.

The geochronology of cave deposits in the Cradle of Humankind UNESCO World Heritage Site in South Africa provides a timeframe essential for the interpretation of its fossils. The uranium-lead (U–Pb) and uranium-thorium disequilibrium (U/Th) dating of speleothems, mostly flowstones that underlie and blanket the fossil-bearing sediments, have been effective in this sense, but U–Pb is limited by the requirement of ∼1 ppm U concentrations and low common Pb contents, and U/Th has a c. 500 ka limit of applicability. Here we report age results for calcite-aragonite speleothems obtained using a new combined uranium-thorium-helium ((U,Th)–He) and U/Th dating routine. We reproduced within analytical uncertainty, the published U–Pb or U/Th ages for (a) flowstone in three drill core samples in the range 2000–3000 ka, (b) a flowstone hand sample taken at surface with an age of 1800 ka, and (c) five underground flowstone samples in the range 100–800 ka. Calcite retentivity for He under cave conditions is thus demonstrated. In the few cases where helium loss was observed in speleothems, only some of the subsamples were affected, and to varying degrees, suggesting loss by lattice damage not related to diagenetic processes, rather than volume diffusion. In the 100 to 800 ka range, the combined U/Th disequilibrium and (U,Th)–He method also yielded reliable values for initial (230Th/238U) and (234U/238U) activity ratios. Importantly, most subsamples had high initial (230Th/238U) values, ranging from 1.0 to 19.7, although having low Th/U ratios. This is probably due to incorporation of Fe–Mn oxides-hydroxides dust, on which 230Th was previously adsorbed. Such samples are mostly not dateable by U/Th without the additional input from the He analysis. If not detected and corrected for, such high initial (230Th/238U) values can lead to inaccurate U/Th and U–Pb ages. Our study shows that the incorporation of He analysis in U/Th dating has broad potential application, with four methods for calculating the ages, in carbonates from different environments where U-Pb or U/Th dating would not work.

The larger area of Aksum is known as the most important archaeological areas in northern Ethiopia. It is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as from about the IV century BC, it developed as one of several polities on the Tigrean plateau and emerged as the capital city of a powerful kingdom roughly between the II and the VIII centuries AD. The Mogareb is a cemetery in a Pre-Aksumite archaeological site of Seglamen located about 12 km South-West of Aksum. The geophysical survey was deployed to investigate the cemetery with the objective of finding and locating unmarked tombs. This work was also intended to test potential of the technique for the wider archaeological area of Aksum, in similar context to Mogareb, where application of geophysical techniques in multidisciplinary archaeological researches, in general, is not common. The approach in this work established an optimized use of the electrical resistivity tomography technique in understanding the archaeological context of the Pre-Aksumite site of Seglamen. The electrical resistivity tomography investigation of large cemetery sites as Mogareb requires a methodological approach designed to define areas of maximum interest where data collection should be planned. Thus, the ERT method suited the Mogareb cemetery area due to the large amount of apriory information from previous archaeological expeditions involving surface collections and excavations that identified and limit extent of the cemetery and were used in the calibration of geophysical survey results. The electrical resistivity tomography survey was conducted on a rectangular grid of 19.5 m by 44.25 m with 0.75 m unit electrode spacing and line spacing in a Dipole-Dipole configuration resulting in high resolvable 2D and 3D electrical resistivity model sections. The models were successful to show interpreted pit tombs anomalies some of which were verified in an excavation of a 10 m by 10 m grid that had an overlap of 6 m by 10 m area to the Northern edge of the electrical resistivity tomography grid.

This study focuses on the effect of spatial arrangement initiated by village community on environmental improvement. It takes Candirejo Village in Borobudur, Magelang Regency in Indonesia as a case study. Candirejo Village, located about 3 km south east of UNESCO world heritage list Borobudur Temple, has been renowned as an ecotourism village since 2003. Previous research shows that it has a long history to reach the current achievement. The initiative started around 1980 through a yard cleaning program and planting more productive trees and greeneries inside the settlement area. This study aims to reveal how this community-based spatial arrangement has brought positive effects on the village environment. It uses qualitative method by using and analysing data gathered through field observation, interviews and literature study. The finding shows that the implementation of yard cleaning and spatial arrangement program had resulted better condition which leads to sustainable village environmental improvement. 3444

The International University of Andalusian (UNIA) held on the 13th to 15th of November 2017 was a meeting oriented to the concept of Chromosomal Instability and related diseases. The meeting was part of the renowned UNIA workshops programme “Current Trends in Biomedicine”, held in the UNESCO World Heritage awarded city Baeza, located in the south of Spain. The goal of this Workshop was to bring together experts in DNA repair and chromosome segregation in order to address the phenomenon of Chromosomal Instability as a whole, facilitating the communication between scientists from different fields to foster cross-disciplinary approaches. This report summarizes a selection of the many interesting results and data presented during the meeting., The workshop financial support was provided by the International University of Andalusian (UNIA – www.unia.es), the EMBO Young Investigator Programme (http://www.embo.org/funding-awards/young-investigators), the Center for Chromosome Stability in Copenhagen (CCS – http://ccs.ku.dk/) and the Danish Research Foundation (DNRF – http://dg.dk/en/).

Using strontium isotope analysis, we investigated the mobility of Roman (1st to 7th century AD) and Byzantine (9th–13th century AD) individuals buried at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hierapolis, Turkey. Results from Roman and Byzantine individuals show that while the majority of the population interred at this site have local strontium isotope values, there are some individuals with values outside the local range, which we identify as migrants. This conclusion agrees in particular with the known history of pilgrimage at Hierapolis in the Byzantine period (as defined above) and with the archaeological evidence of pilgrim badges associated with human burials unearthed from recent excavations. In addition, we present the first map of bioavailable strontium in southwestern Turkey.

This work was partially funded by the University of Alicante (vigrob-157 Project, GRE17-011 and UAUSTI18-21, UAUSTI19-25 and UAUSTI20-20 projects), the Regional Governments of Comunidad Valenciana AICO/2020/175, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and EU FEDER under Project TEC2017-85244-C2-1-P, the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport under project CAS17/00392 and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities project RTI2018-099052-BI00.

River width is an essential parameter for studying the river’s hydrological process and has been widely used to estimate the river discharge. The existing approaches to measuring river width are based on remotely sensed imagery such as MODIS, Landsat to identify the river, and then estimate the river width. In this work, an alternate approach for river width estimation is proposed using the under-explored modality Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. SAR, unlike the traditional electro-optical sensors, can penetrate the clouds and can be used to collect the data in all weather conditions and even during the night. In this work, the river identification process is manifested as a binary semantic segmentation task in SAR images. For this, two state of the art deep learning algorithms (U-Net, DeepLabV3+) are utilized for river identification and subsequent width measurement. The proposed approach (DeepRivWidth) is used to estimate the width of the river of the Mangalore-Udupi region of Coastal Karnataka (India). These rivers originate or pass through Western Ghats (UNESCO world heritage site), and the proposed river width measurement approach could provide critical input for ecologists besides assisting efficient water management of the region. The estimated width is compared with the manually measured width, and significant improvement in the accuracy was obtained compared to existing river width measurement approaches. Besides, the performance evaluation of semantic segmentation approaches for river identification on a publicly available dataset provides valuable insights into segmenting rivers in SAR images.

One of the most important concerns of such a relevant city as Cordoba has always been the use and distribution of water resources. In the Mosque-Cathedral located in Cordoba (Spain), a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984, there is an Islamic cistern built by Almanzor around the years 999–1000 CE in the Court of Oranges of the former Mosque. In this work we aim to create an exact 3D model of this cistern. For that purpose, we have digitally reconstructed the Islamic cistern using photogrammetry techniques. Furthermore, we have documented the location and capacity of water distribution canalizations, whose initial function was to provide the cistern with water and to empty it. Finally, we have studied the cistern water capacity, calculated an estimation of its filling time and we have made a water flow simulation with a CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) Simulation software.

Knowledge on lichen and microbial colonization as well as associated biodeterioration processes of the stone cultural heritage is needed to establish proper conservation programs, but is still poor for stonework in semi-arid regions. In this study, lichen diversity was characterized on seven monumental buildings of the Pasargadae UNESCO-world heritage site (Iran). The risk of biodeterioration processes associated to lichen occurrence on two types of limestones, and the lichen resilience to mechanical cleaning intervention were examined. Physico-chemical substrate features and climatic conditions, combined with the agricultural surrounding and tourist disturbance, supported a pervasive colonization by species-poor epi- and endolithic communities, and fast recolonization processes by nitrophytic species after mechanical removal. The endolithic growth of some lichens and the penetration of hyphal structures of epilithic ones, examined by light and electron microscopy, were associated to stone disintegration and dissolution at the lichen-rock interface. Endolithic cyanobacteria were detected under lichen thalli, likely contributing to deterioration processes. Colonization and deterioration patterns did not appear peculiar with respect to previous investigations on similar communities in different climatic regions, and were mostly related to the different examined lithologies, indicating lichens as harmful biodeteriogens of the sedimentary rock materials used in the stone cultural heritage of semi-arid regions., This study financially supported in part by the Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST) for the Preservation of the World Cultural Heritage sites. SEM-BSE study was financed by Geomateriales 2, ref S2013/MIT-2914 (Comunidad de Madrid, FSE and FEDER). SPO is supported by the grant RYC-2014-16784 from the Spanish Economy and Competitiveness Ministry.

Volubilis is the most important archaeological site in Morocco. It has been registered on the UNESCO World Heritage list since December 1997. For preservation purposes, the main building stone of the site was characterized and many mortars were formulated and analyzed. Aerial lime and regional materials such as brick dust and washed dolomitic sand were used to make nine mortars. After one month of maturation, physical and mechanical tests were carried out. The results indicated that the calcarenite stone is a porous, soft and medium-absorbing stone. Characterization of the mortars confirmed the pozzolanicity of the brick dust. It decreases the porosity and the capillary absorption if used as lime substitution and increases them if used as aggregate. It also improves the compressive strength. A preliminary compatible mortar recipe was selected for future interventions.

Vernacular architecture is an important part of cultural landscapes. The use of traditional sandstone roofing for rural constructions has declined significantly in the Aragonese Pyrenees (Spain), leading to important changes in the cultural landscape of this UNESCO World Heritage site. Factors leading to the decline are studied, including laboratory analyses/tests to evaluate the material's shortcomings, as well as local visits and a bibliographic search to examine technical, building regulatory, and administrative issues. Clay accumulation along the sandstone's bedding planes was the main material-related cause of deterioration. However, a shortage of suitable replacement material as well as technical problems related to the adaptation to modern building codes were also identified as important factors contributing to the decline. Solutions for their remediation are discussed and selection criteria for the identification of suitable replacement material are proposed. The described methodology is applicable to the study of endangered vernacular architecture worldwide and will help raise public awareness and institutional support.

The Wadden Sea is a unique area from ecological, geological and cultural perspectives and lies in the territories of Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. The trilateral cooperation on the protection of the Wadden Sea can be marked to start in 1978, although the countries already cooperated before that date. This article describes the evolution of the governance of the Wadden Sea during the more than 35 years of existence of the trilateral cooperation and shows the co-evolvement of issues and institutional arrangements over that period. The trilateral cooperation is built upon concerns from the 1960s and 70s about the ecological status of the Wadden Sea and has a focus on nature conservation, while later the sustainability paradigm came up which is covered by the Wadden Sea Forum. The latest development is the inscription of the Wadden Sea as UNESCO World Heritage Site, which gives an extra boost to the trilateral cooperation. This article describes several aspects that are important for the governance of the Wadden Sea, such as the levels of coordination, conflict regulating mechanisms, the role of science and scientific information, stakeholder participation, and juridical arrangements.

The world's leading cities are remembered with the structures identified with that city, symbolizing the city alone, creating adequate images concerning the city. Within the scope of the study, the urban silhouette model is created by using three dimensional digital terrain model for the protection of Selimiye Mosque's rapidly disappearing silhouette which is one of the essential elements of the urban identity of Edirne chosen as an example and is on the Unesco World Heritage list. This model, at the same time, contributes to creating the legal basis for restricting the rights of construction intended for the protection of urban silhouette.

Mortars and plasters from the Forty Martyrs rupestrian complex (Cappadocia, Turkey) were characterized by means of different and complementary analytical techniques, in order to achieve evidence about the raw materials and the production technologies employed in the site dwelled by some of the first Cappadocian Christian communities. The investigated area is constituted by rooms directly hewn in the volcanic deposits named “Fairy Chimneys” and included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Archaeological studies attributed different uses to the rooms, i.e. chapels, storages and wineries. The multi-analytical approach means to confirm or to retract the archaeological thesis and to highlight probable differences in the production techniques of the stone materials. In this regard, textural and compositional data of the binder and the aggregate fractions were collected by optical microscopy and electron microscopy coupled with microanalysis. Pigments and binder composition were investigated by Fourier transform infrared and micro-Raman spectroscopy. Lastly, probable traces of organic residues were identified by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. The obtained results allowed for identifying variations in the technical and compositional characteristics of mortars and plasters which can be related to different uses of the rooms constituting the rupestrian complex.

Visual distinctiveness of the series of successive coastal landscapes featuring the Curonian Spit, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has been investigated using black and white landscape photos as visual stimuli. Based on the results of the chi-square test it was confirmed with strong statistical evidence that lay visitors indeed are capable of visual distinguishing different coastal landscapes and habitats which occur in the succession series from the shifting dunes to the mature forest. In all investigated 45 different cases of coastal landscapes the ‘null hypothesis’ was rejected with p

Rupestrian settlements were among the first man-made works in the history of humanity. The most relevant masterpieces of such human history have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. These sites and remains are not always in equilibrium with the environment. They are continuously impacted and weathered by several internal and external factors, both natural and human-induced, with rapid and/or slow onset. These include major sudden natural hazards, such as earthquakes or extreme meteorological events, but also slow, cumulative processes such the erosion of rocks, compounded by the effect of climate change, without disregarding the role of humans, especially in conflict situations. Many rupestrian sites have been carved into soft rock, generally with UCS

World Multidisciplinary Civil Engineering-Architecture-Urban Planning Symposium (WMCAUS) -- JUN 13-17, 2016 -- Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC, WOS: 000387566500356, The article presents the monuments from the Czech Republic enlisted on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List. Each country tries to choose representative sites and monuments that document the structural and architectural development in a given region. Therefore, the Czech Republic carried out an analysis of their monuments. As the Czech Republic has a very rich and expressive history in the very centre of Europe, its history has significantly affected its civil engineering and architecture. It is also a country with a varied geological structure and geomorphology. Today's untraditional forms of tourism, among which we also find geotourism, may thus build on such knowledge and expand the current offer of destinations. Learning about the geological structure is also important in terms of future renovation and reconstruction work. The current list of UNESCO cultural sites will be expanded by further unique sites and buildings. For this reason, it is important to combine knowledge from more specialised disciplines, such as geology and mining science. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

With rapid economic growth, most cities experience uncontrolled development resulting in decay especially on their historic cores. A city's historic center is the heart of its urban identity, therefore once it is abandoned, city's identity tends to diminish, too. As a result, urban regeneration projects with a focus of urban preservation for historical city centers gain crucial importance to save this identity. This study investigates the highly recognized World Heritage List of UNESCO with the case of Melaka, Malaysia in order gain a perspective for Tire, Turkey for a successful urban preservation project.

Archaeological excavations of the Kazan Kremlin, a UNESCO World Heritage site, revealed stamped glass bottles dated from the second quarter of the 18th to the 19th centuries ACE. Two stamps have the exact date of 1822 and 1884. Most of the glass stamps in our dataset are clearly of Russian origin. All artifacts are lime–rich plant ash glasses, with low soda content. Their chemical composition indicates the use of similar recipe with various sources of glass cullet and straw ash for their manufacture, with the possible addition of wood ash and other components.

Devon Great Consols (DGC) is a region in south west England where extensive mining for Cu, Sn and As took place in the nineteenth century. Because of its historical and geological significance, DGC has protected status and is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape UNESCO World Heritage Site. Recently, the region was opened up to the public with the construction or redevelopment of various trails, tracks and facilities for walking, cycling and field visits. We used portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometry to measure, in situ, the concentrations of As in soils and dusts in areas that are accessible to the public. Concentrations ranged from about 140 to 75,000 μg g−1 (n = 98), and in all but one case exceeded a Category 4 Screening Level for park-type soil of 179 μg g−1. Samples returned to the laboratory and fractionated to

The conservation and maintenance of the historical heritage is an issue of great importance, especially when dealing with elements that can easily suffer damage along the time, either to intrinsic materials properties or by exposure conditions, like often happen for timber structures. For the management and maintenance of historic timber structures, HBIM (Historic Building Information Modeling) is here presented as a fundamental tool. This work presents the application of a methodology that uses common HBIM software in combination with results obtained from non-destructive testing and geometric surveying, allowing it to perform modeling, analysis and storage of geometric data, levels of decay and lack of material of timber structures within a tridimensional space. Moreover, the proposed framework incorporates different time stages, thus allowing to make periodic comparisons along time, that substantiate a decision making process to take decisions about maintenance and intervention actions. In this work two case studies are used to validate this methodology and present its possible use. The case studies are: (i) the timber structure of the roof of the key tower of the Castle of Guimaraes, and (ii) the timber structure of the ceiling and roof of the room of the Knight's Room in the Convent of Christ, Tomar, both Portuguese buildings listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

During the ongoing characterization of limestone biodeterioration in the UNESCO World Heritage site of “University of Coimbra – Alta and Sofia” (Coimbra, Portugal), it was brought to our attention that the limestone relieves adorning the tomb of D. Afonso I (First Portuguese King), displayed several signs of distinctive biodeterioration patterns. According to the ICOMOS Illustrated glossary on stone deterioration patterns, these could be characterized as visual mould proliferation, presence of black crusts, stone erosion and disintegration. Due to the invaluable nature of this monument, a multi-disciplinary approach (biological and analytical) to fully characterize these phenomena was applied. The results obtained allowed the characterization of the fungal diversity colonizing this monument, as well as the identification of various deterioration products. The results highlighted that the detected indoor black crusts displayed various characteristics from polluted environments, although lacking the typical association with gypsum. The black crusts were also characterized by the presence of lead oxides, damaging salts and carbonaceous particles. In addition, it could be verified that the erosion phenomena found are a result from fungal mediated calcium carbonate dissolution and calcium oxalate formation. The establishment of different fungal populations coupled with the deposition of environmental particles contributed to the development of the distinct phenomena detected through differential biodeterioration mechanisms.

Russian Abstract: В статье представлены некоторые результаты текущего исследования бальной культуры в рамках проекта по реконструкции исторических практик культурного наследия Санкт- Петербурга, объекта Всемирного наследия ЮНЕСКО. Рассмотрены коммерческие и некоммерческие проекты по реконструкции и проведению балов, проанализированы результаты SWOT анализ конкурентов, присутствующих на рынке балов в Санкт-Петербурге. Было выявлено, что практики воспроизведения нематериального наследия способствуют укреплению территориальной идентичности и патриотизма. В работе использованы социологические методы анализа документов, сайтов, приведены результаты интервью и опросов молодежи по поводу бальной культуры и мотивации участия в балах. English Abstract: The article presents some results of the current study of ball culture in the framework of the project on the reconstruction of the historical practices of the cultural heritage of St. Petersburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Commercial and non-commercial projects for the reconstruction and holding of balls are considered, the results of the SWOT analysis of competitors present in the market for balls in St. Petersburg are analyzed. It was revealed that the practice of reproducing intangible heritage contributes to the strengthening of territorial identity and patriotism. The paper used sociological methods for analyzing documents, websites, and presents the results of interviews and surveys of young people about ball culture and motivation to participate in balls.

Light art has been used for heritage buildings to express their cultural, historical and visual importance. But what was needed for the buildings and what was initially required? These are the main issues, which surfaced when our urban architecture became more influenced by state-of-the-art aesthetics than ethics in conservation and professional conduct. The objectives of this paper are to outline the features of light art used around George Town–a UNESCO World Heritage Site–and to raise questions on how to strike a balance between aesthetics and ethics in its design. The observations done around George Town led to more specific branches that define light art for historical buildings, aesthetics, the quality of light and building conservation. It is quite obvious that designers must balance design sustainability with technical sustainability by fully expanding the spectrum of the design's aesthetic, historical and functional needs.

Nemrut Dag Tumulus and Monuments, constructed during the Commagenian Kingdom approximately 2000 years ago on the peak of Mount Nemrut, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Turkey. The region is about 5 km away from the East Anatolian Fault, therefore, this paper focuses on dynamic testing and earthquake simulations carried out within the framework of the Commagene Nemrut Conservation Development Program in order to explain monuments’ current condition. The simulations showed vulnerability of cut-stone blocks separating from one another under seismic action, and simple strengthening solutions were proposed.

Being stated as the UNESCO World Heritage Site, George Town must preserve their heritage buildings according the conservation regulations in order to retain the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). There were number of buildings that have been preserved and change its usage into new purpose. This happened in buildings, which were adaptively reused into a new usage. However, some buildings were not fully complying the conservation rules and overlooking the occupants’ condition in terms of the indoor environmental condition. This inappropriateness has resulted dissatisfactions of the occupants especially the quality of the indoor air that they breathe. This paper studies about the impact of the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in adaptively reused heritage buildings in a government office, the George Town City Hall. This building was chosen due to the feasibility and the possibilities to conduct the research. Walk-though inspection, observation as well as 24-hour air sampling were used to collect the data. Airborne mould and chemical sampling were also conducted to monitor the IAQ level. Besides, swab sampling was also performed to confirm any biological growth on the suspected surface. The significant findings of this research noted that there were negative impacts on the occupants of the designated building due to the poor quality of the indoor air. It could be concluded that the occupants’ conditions were significantly affected by the improper practice of adaptive reuse, which made worse by the occupants’ activities.

In this paper, we address the problem of automated petroglyph classification in a large real-world dataset. The dataset which contains more than 1000 petroglyphs is based on tracings from the UNESCO world heritage site Valcamonica, Italy and is expert-classified into two parallel typologies. For automated classifications of petroglyphs we utilise a combination of existing shape descriptors and a recently developed graph-based petroglyph descriptor. We achieve good classification results. We evaluate how the results can be incorporated into the daily work of archaeologists. We demonstrate that our tools can clearly enhance the process of manual classification.

Yakushima Island (Yakushima) has been developed for eco-tourism, and it has been registered on the list of UNESCO world heritage (WH) sites. The inhabitants of Yakushima have derived great prosperity from their WH registration and are considered successful in Japan. In spite of the island’s strong economic growth due to tourism, there have been many social problems. The inhabitants, including tourist agencies and tour guides, are the primary agents of these social problems. In this paper, we explain that the causes of these social problems are rooted in a misinterpretation of the WH convention, especially the concept of ‘heritage’. We must define the meaning of ‘heritage’ and the related words in the convention. In doing this, it is necessary to introduce strictly defined legal terms from the civil law. In our civil law, the concept of ‘heritage’ is described as one concept, that is, joint-property or inheritance. Inheritance is owned jointly, and it consists of heirs and inheritance obligees, that is, all the peoples of the world. The inhabitants in Yakushima should recognize that they gave everyone from around the world the right to enjoy the naturale environment of their island after it was registered on the WH list.

Travel & Tourism is a developing sector in Bangladesh and it is very imperative to ensure sustainable development goal of Bangladesh and uphold GDP @ 7 %, where Total Travel & Tourism’s contribution share near about 4.7 % of total GDP. It will be a challenging task for Bangladesh to maintain GDP growth more than 7% in the near future but the tourism sector has the potentiality to support GDP growth besides the RMG sector. Bangladesh is a land of river & beauty which has world longest sea beach with UNESCO world heritage Sundarbans. Through the paper, we observe the causality between Travel & Tourism’s contribution to GDP growth & employment in Bangladesh by formulating an econometric model. All analyses have been conducted by vector error correction model and Engle & Ganger test of causality with the yearly data on employment in the tourism sector, visitor export, and capital investment in the tourism sector over the period of 1990 to 2015. Through the analyses, we detect that travel and tourism’s variables together have a long-run significant relationship with GDP growth and employment creation. Our forecast that in future Bangladesh GDP growth and employment growth in tourism will be strengthened through capital investment and visitor export and in coming years Bangladesh GDP growth will be near to 7% whereas in 2016 Bangladesh GDP growth rate was 6.9 % and employment generation growth in tourism sector is also forecasted to be near to 10%.

Authenticity has long been a theme within the tourism literature, but relatively little has been written about the attitudes of souvenir retailers. This paper, based on a combination of case study and micro-ethnographic approaches, reports findings derived from interviews with 25 souvenir retailers in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hoi An, Vietnam. It uses a thematic and content analysis aided by the use of textual analysis software to identify dichotomous yet holistic perceptions on the part of the retailers. They seek to sell souvenirs perceived as authentic of Hoi An, yet source both nationally and locally. The items are thus representative of Hoi An and Vietnam, and these attitudes can be justified by an appeal to the past trading heritage of the ancient city. The retailers also perceive tourists as potential ‘prosumers’ who create their own experiential authenticity.

The statistics projection by the China Academic (CTA), the number of outbound tourists from China is in the range from 2015:75-80 million, and 2020: 100-110 million. It is projected that China will become the world's fourth largest outbound market by 2020. In 2009, in less than a year after the inscribed of UNESCO World Heritage city in Melaka, the number of Chinese outbound tourists hit 47.66 million (4% increase versus 2008) which was nine fold increase from 1995 with only 5 million traveled abroad. (Boyd, 2011). To narrow it down, out of the 47.66 million, 66.70% was for the Asia region (Chinese Outbound Tourism Express 2010); whereas in Malaysia, the tourist arrival by country, the statistics shows that China stands at the third most tourist arrivals to Malaysia. (Tourism Malaysia with the cooperation of Immigration Department). From January to September 2013 tourist arrivals from China to Malaysia versus 2012 was 1,118,692 visitors to 1,229,477 visitors, respectively, or a 22.6% increase. According to the projection by Tourism Malaysia 2014, Malaysia is expecting over 2 million China tourists to Malaysia. Is the state of Melaka ready to receive China tourists? What are the expectations of the Chinese tourists for Melaka? This article examines the relationship between the ever-growing importance of Chinese outbound tourism and the opportunities provided for the city of Melaka, Malaysia, with particular importance being placed on the UNESCO World Heritage status of Melaka and the opinions of working class Chinese tourists.

Underground tourist cultural and natural heritage sites in Slovenia that share similar management problems with other such sites worldwide include Postojna Cave with more than a half million annual visitors and the UNESCO World Heritage Site Skocjan Caves. The underground environment is challenged by ultrasonic noise derived from different electric devices in a broad range (10–123 kHz) that can be minimised with protective housings. Lamps which increase temperature and lower relative humidity should be omitted. Chlorella vulgaris thrived very well under a halogen lamp and LEDs whose spectra were modified to give a natural appearance to illuminated features and emitted photon quanta close to the photosynthetic compensation point (∼20 μmol photons/m 2 s). Remediation of insensitive calcite surfaces colonised by lampenflora with a 15% (v/v) solution of hydrogen peroxide (pH 7.0–7.5) was successful. Because visitors introduce and spread, especially by footprints, many live microorganisms (>10 000 colony-forming units per 100 cm 2 ), measures to reduce such input should be implemented. Bacterial counts expressed as colony-forming units per m 3 were more indicative for the presence/absence of tourists than were changes in carbon dioxide concentration. Not only tourists, but also external climatic conditions influenced the concentration of airborne bacteria. Microbiological parameters should be included in estimating tourist carrying capacity for sensitive underground sites.

Lichens are part of the dominant colonizer crusts of rock-art on schist in the Coa Valley Archaeological Park (NE Portugal). Among the several species observed at the site, Circinaria hoffmanniana is one of the most extensive on the rock surfaces. Given the historic value of the park's open-air prehistoric rock-art, which has been designated UNESCO World Heritage, an effective, precise, selective and controllable cleaning method for the engravings is required, in order to extract the lichen while avoiding any grain extraction and/or physical changes in the surface. Based on these requirements, 2 different lasers commonly used in the conservation and restoration of cultural heritage were applied in one scan, with the aim of obtaining a satisfactory level of cleaning as quickly as possible. The 2 lasers were: a Q-switched Nd:YAG (pulse duration of 6 ns) and a free-running Er:YAG (pulse duration of 250 μs), working at IR radiation of 1064 nm and 2940 nm respectively. The cleaning was evaluated by assessing the extraction rate and the damage induced on the schist using a multianalytical methodology based on stereomicroscopy, colour measurements in CIELAB and CIELCH colour spaces, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Further studies should be performed to evaluate the tertiary bioreceptivity of the treated surface.