Commonwealth Lecture Series: Hamburg City Park – Frank-Pieter Hesse & Heino Grunert, 3rd September 2014

Glasgow City Heritage Trust, in collaboration with Architecture and Design Scotland and The Lighthouse ran a Commonwealth Lecture Series in 2014. Speakers travelled from various countries to speak at the series, which primarily focussed on placemaking and sustainability.

This lecture illustrates Hamburg’s green and urban development, plus the city’s background and transformation into the green network of today.

Frank-Pieter Hesse, former Head of Conservation and Planning for the City of Hamburg will speak about ‘The Hamburg City Park – Its Genesis, Change and Preservation’. At nearly 150 hectares, the park is home to various recreational spaces including gardens, playgrounds, cafes and a forest. Hamburg City Park is also home to numerous sculptures, a planetarium and an outdoor theatre. The unique spatial design makes Hamburg City Park a gem of people’s parks in Germany and around the world. The lecture will address whether the irregular or architectural structures are suited to meet the new use requirements of the modern city park associated with the public park movement. Both the historical discussions about its design and and their impressing result justify the assessment of Hamburg City Park as a cultural monument of national, historical, urban and artistic significance. The lecture will deliver insight into the genesis, alteration and preservation maintenance of Hamburg City Park.

Heino Grunert from the City Development & the Environment department from the City of Hamburg will focus on ‘100 years Green Legacy: Hamburg City park and the development of the green network’. Since 1993 he has worked at the State Ministry of Urban Development and Environment, Historic Gardens and Parks of Hamburg. At the beginning of the 20th century, Hamburg grew rapidly like many other industrial cities in Europe. However, there were many problems with hygiene and health in certain parts of the city. During this period Hamburg only had a few public gardens which, although aesthetically beautiful, served no real purpose as a recreational space as sport and play were banned in these areas. At this time, Hamburg intensively discussed a new public park for everybody. Hamburg City Park opened in 1914 with the neighbouring town of Altona (which today is a part of Hamburg) also building another large city park. Both parks were completed at the end of the 20th century with both towns obtaining autonomous green administration in 1913/1914.

The Hamburg City Park - Its Genesis, Change and Preservation

100 years Green Legacy: Hamburg City Park and the Development of the Green Network

Commonwealth Lecture Series: How Barcelona Became a Tourist Destination – Lluis Bosch, 13th August 2014

How Barcelona Became a Tourist Destination

Lluis Bosch is the Head of the Routes and Publications department of the Urban Landscape Institute of the Barcelona City Council.

It may be hard to imagine now, but only 25 years ago, Barcelona was not at all a touristic city. Most tourists arriving at Barcelona airport would hurry off to their seaside resorts and avoid the metropolitan area. Gaudí’s works and those of the rest of the masters of the Modernisme movement (the particular Catalan Art Nouveau) were all but unknown to the general public –and in many ways disregarded by art lovers and specialists.

Today, however, with more than 8 million tourists every year –and with over 85% of them stating that they come attracted, above all, by its Art Nouveau architecture-­‐ Barcelona has become the 3rd touristic magnet in Europe and the most popular Art Nouveau heritage capital worldwide.

The talk explains how this evolution has happened: what part of this success is owed to conscious, deliberate policies of the authorities and what part can be traced to other, more coincidental or external causes? It will also delve into the debate –now very alive in the local media-­‐ of whether such impressive touristic success of Barcelona will in the long run be beneficial or harmful for the city’s image, the preservation of its heritage and the quality of life of its citizens.

Commonwealth Lecture Series: Traffic Management in Historic Cities – Pierre Laconte, 16th July 2014

Glasgow City Heritage Trust, in collaboration with Architecture and Design Scotland and The Lighthouse ran a Commonwealth Lecture Series in 2014. Speakers travelled from various countries to speak at the series, which primarily focussed on Place-making and Sustainability. In this second talk in the series Pierre Laconte spoke about “Traffic Management in Historic Cities: Place-making for Man and Motor is Possible”.

Pierre Laconte is the President of the Foundation for the Urban environment (FFUE), Honorary Secretary General of the International Association of public Transport (UITP), Past-President of the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP) and Expert member of ICOMOS CIVVIH.

The lecture will first present the general argument in favour of a balance between modes of transport to ensure liveable places in a liveable city.
It will then give some examples of medium size historic cities that have, at some point in time, found practical solutions for handling traffic and planning in view of enhancing the place quality, such as:

  • Zurich (whole city, since 1985)
  • Copenhagen (whole city, since 1962)
  • Portland, Oregon (whole city, since 1975)
  • Brussels (Louvain-la-Neuve new university town in suburban Brussels, since 1972)
  • Bilbao (Abandoibarra area, since 1989).

Traffic Management in Historic Cities

Commonwealth Lecture Series: Sustainable Development in World Heritage Cities – Elene Negussie, 4th June 2014

Glasgow City Heritage Trust, in collaboration with Architecture and Design Scotland and The Lighthouse ran a Commonwealth Lecture Series in 2014. Speakers travelled from various countries to speak at the series, which primarily focussed on Place-making and Sustainability.

Elene Negussie, PhD, is an urban geographer, consultant and lecturer in cultural heritage for the World Heritage Programme at University College Dublin and Board Member of the ICOMOS International Committee on Historic Towns and Villages. She is co-author of a forthcoming book ‘World Heritage Conservation: The World Heritage Convention, Linking Culture and Nature for Sustainable Development’.

The World Heritage Convention in its aim of safeguarding the cultural and natural heritage of humanity has provided opportunities for the enhancement of integrated conservation and holistic perspectives on the conservation of cities. This presentation firstly discusses the concept of sustainability and recent developments on the integration of culture as a fourth pillar in the sustainable development model. Secondly, it explores the usefulness of the Historic Urban Landscape approach as a tool for achieving holistic conservation and sustainability in urban environments, drawing on recent city examples.