Heritage as an Asset for Inner City Development

Heritage is playing an increasingly emphatic role in the development of the contemporary city. It is an important location-determining factor for a new generation of city dwellers, newly developing companies in the service sector and creative industries and also for recreation and tourism. At the same time, unrestrained urban growth is putting historic inner cities under increasingly greater pressure. Accordingly, it is time for a new orientation toward the historic city.
How do we utilize a city’s existing qualities for a vital future? How do we reverse the increasing threats that can be felt in all historical inner cities? What is the economic significance of heritage for a city that wants progress? What possibilities and limitations does heritage offer for the challenges we continually face in our design assignments? These are the central questions of this book.
Heritage As an Asset for Inner City Development draws on the broad experience of teachers and participants in the Urban Heritage Strategies course. A variety of cities pass in review: Paramaribo, Recife, Accra, Pretoria, Moscow, Pulicat, Jaffna and Surabaya. Each in their own way, these cities all have historical tie with the Netherlands.