ICH for Sustainable Cities and Communities: Perspectives for Integrated Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region
As part of the first celebration of the International Day of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (on 17 October), International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (IRCI) held an international symposium under its research project ‘Research on ICH Contributing to SDGs: Intangible Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Cities and Community’ (FY 2022—2024) on 11 October 2024.
The research project has been developed to investigate the importance of ICH in mobilizing cultural heritage for building sustainable cities and communities. Cambodia, Malaysia, and the Marshall Islands were selected as case study areas with distinctive cultural landscapes in the Asia-Pacific region under this project, and field research and discussions were conducted in cooperation with local institutions on the role of ICH in safeguarding cultural heritage in the communities and the ways for integrated safeguarding, transmission, and utilization of the community’s heritage. As this is the project’s final year, IRCI organized this symposium to summarize, present, and disseminate the results of the project to heritage stakeholders and the wider public.
The symposium explores the importance of ICH in the context of SDG target 11.4, by sharing the cases in the Asia-Pacific region that incorporate ICH in heritage management, including the results of the case studies conducted in the above-mentioned IRCI project. Specifically, it aims to deepen our understanding of the interaction between tangible and intangible heritage and their integrated safeguarding, as well as the community-centred approaches to the holistic safeguarding of cultural heritage, by highlighting various ‘intangible’ components that constitute cultural and historic landscapes. In addition, by making the conference accessible to the public, it aims to enhance the interest and understanding among cultural heritage stakeholders and the public about the significance of ICH in the context of SDGs. A video recording of the symposium will be made available on IRCI’s official YouTube channel for a limited time.
Text as provided by the organiser(s).