The UNESCO World Heritage Convention provides leadership in celebrating and safeguarding the cultural and natural heritage of the world, not only the Outstanding Universal Value of the 1.000+ sites on the World Heritage List, but all heritage valued by local communities. Based on UNESCO’s strategic objectives of Conservation, Credibility, Capacity-Building, Communities and Communication, heritage protection can be a medium to achieve our transformation into more locally empowered, just and resilient societies, based on the principles of People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnerships underpinning the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, this potential contribution is largely under-utilized, and depends on sustaining a mutually beneficial and progressive relationship between heritage and development processes, often not understood and harnessed effectively.

This session will explore new approaches in heritage management and governance, to challenge traditional setbacks in heritage thinking and to support the development of a more positive relationship between heritage and development, urgently needed in the face of our unprecedented global challenges. This session is hosted by the International Cultural Centre in Kraków, as part of the 6th Heritage Forum of Central Europe focusing on the theme ‘Heritage & Development’ and co-organized with the OWH Sustainability Thematic Debate Team.

In this session, in the form of a Round Table, themes convergent to the main theme of Heritage Sustainability will be addressed, such as: resilience, evolution, conservation, landscape and future of heritage. It is suggested that in addition to the conceptual and methodological framework, the speakers briefly present a case that exemplifies their experience in this line.

Discussion was held during the 6th Heritage Forum of Central Europe.