6. Heritage Forum of Central Europe: Heritage and Development

Counteracting climate change - is it for or against heritage? What is community archeology? How to use responsibility for heritage while minimizing the negative effects of its exploitation? Is the answer to sustainable tourism? During the 6th Central European Heritage Forum (June 16-18, 2021), participants focused on the mutual relations between cultural heritage and broadly understood development.

The three-day conference, organized for the first time online, was attended by over 100 researchers from 31 countries, working at the crossroads of various disciplines - economics, history, architecture, art, cultural studies, anthropology, education, conservation, literature, politics, sociology and management. . Plenary lectures were delivered, among others, by Australian cultural economist prof. David Throsby, a Lithuanian writer living in Canada Laimonas Briedis and the secretary general of Europa Nostra Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović.

"This year's edition of the Forum, together with our Visegrad partners, we have decided to devote to the complex relationship between heritage and development, which, especially now, when so many spheres have been affected by the pandemic, should be investigated and monitored. The current crisis has shown the interdependence of many areas of socio-economic life, for example cultural heritage institutions (museums), historic cities and tourism. We hope that this conference will bring more voices that will prove that culture and heritage can be helpful in overcoming it, and therefore the financing of these sectors should be treated as an investment in the future" - emphasizes Agata Wąsowska-Pawlik, director of the ICC.

The 6th Central European Heritage Forum coincided with the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Visegrad Group. Its aim was to look at the relationship of heritage with development, which until recently was understood strictly economically and equated with economic growth - when in fact it was a multi-dimensional concept. The coronavirus pandemic has forced and facilitated a multi-faceted reevaluation of considerations. The concept of post-growth is becoming more and more popular in the world of social sciences. To what extent is cultural heritage or can it become a catalyst for development understood in completely new terms and values? - this is the main question of the 6th edition of the Forum.

Conference participants could listen to over 90 lectures on topics such as social inclusion, urban renewal, climate catastrophe and adaptation. Addressing issues such as the importance of heritage for sustainable development or civic engagement and social inclusion, the Forum focused on presenting new implementable tools and policies that respond to the challenges facing Europe today.

Although the Forum is an expert conference, the lectures could be heard by all interested parties after free registration on the streaming platform: https://heritageforum.mck.krakow.pl/

The language of the conference was English (no translation). Details and the conference program are available at https://heritageforum.mck.krakow.pl/agenda/

The Heritage Forum of Central Europe is an international conference organized by the ICC every two years, at which specialists from the Central European region, as well as researchers and experts from around the world dealing with Central European issues, discuss issues of cultural heritage. The Krakow conference is not only the voice of Central Europe in terms of its philosophy, management, protection, economic, social and political dimensions, but above all an interdisciplinary platform for meetings and discussions on the relationship between the past and the present.

Previous editions focused on the following issues: heritage and Central Europe (2011), the boundaries of heritage (2013), the city (2015), society (2017) and the environment (2019). The Forum is organized under the auspices of the Working Group of Experts on Cultural Heritage of the Visegrad Group Countries, which includes: the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Hungary, the Council for the Protection of Monuments of the Slovak Republic in Bratislava and the International Cultural Center in Krakow.