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1
History, Heritage and Regeneration the future
for traditional architecture in Central and
Eastern Europe INTBAU Conference, Sibiu,
Romania, 23-25 September 2007
dennis_at_dennisrodwell.co.uk
2
Central and Eastern Europe Conservation Overview
Presented by Dennis Rodwell architect-planner,
cultural heritage consultant
dennis_at_dennisrodwell.co.uk
3
Introduction
4
Dennis Rodwell complementary activities in
cultural heritage
dennis_at_dennisrodwell.co.uk
5
Architect Restoration of Historic Buildings
Port of Leith Edinburgh,
Scotland Old Town Dennis Rodwell
Architects completed projects include c.100
urban tenements, c.1500 urban and rural
apartments and houses
6
Architect Establishing a Working Museum tangible
intangible heritage
Robert Smails Printing Works, Innerleithen,
Scotland National Trust for Scotland tourism and
heritage awards
dennis_at_dennisrodwell.co.uk
7
Developer Rescue of Historic Buildings
restaurant interior before
exterior after Melrose Station, Scotland
mixed use commercial development four
conservation awards
(acquired 1985, restored 1986, managed until 2003)
8
Edinburgh New Town Conservation Committee PA to
Director, 1971-72 Member, 1981-84 and 1987-90
Europa Nostra medal of honour and diploma of merit
(predecessor organisation of the Edinburgh World
Heritage Trust)
9
Project Promoter Historic Buildings at Risk
Britannia Music Hall, Glasgow initial
feasibility study (1993)
dennis_at_dennisrodwell.co.uk
10
Founding Chairman of a NGO Educate and inform
Trimontium Trust, Melrose, Scotland Roman
archaeological site award winning museum
dennis_at_dennisrodwell.co.uk
11
Cultural Heritage Consultant 1/2 Central and
Eastern Europe and the Horn of Africa
Asmara Africas secret Modernist city
Vilnius

Dubrovnik
UNESCO, the World Bank and partners
dennis_at_dennisrodwell.co.uk
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Cultural Heritage Consultant 2/2 Central and
Eastern Europe and the Horn of Africa

• Obligation and opportunity to look outside the
  box of United Kingdom practice in historic
  building and urban conservation.
• Engaging with broader concepts such as cultural
  landscapes and urban landscapes including
  projected UNESCO Recommendation on historic urban
  landscapes (rapporteur to St Petersburg
  conference January/February 2007).
• Engaging with complementary agendas such as
• intangible cultural heritage continuously
  evolving human traditions, narrative and stories,
  manifestations, distinctive skills
• sustainable development

dennis_at_dennisrodwell.co.uk
13
World Heritage Site Derwent Valley Mills World
Heritage Site, England
Nomination and Inscription (2001) research
nomination document management plan
publications (as conservation officer and
urban designer for the City of Derby on behalf
of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site
Partnership)
dennis_at_dennisrodwell.co.uk
14
Research and Writing Historic Sites and Cities
Current project Managing Historic Cities book
for UNESCO World Heritage Centre
15
Historic City holistic management 1/2 Sibiu,
Transylvania, Romania
European Capital of Culture 2007 (consultant to
the City Hall and GTZ under the Romanian-German
Cooperation project)
dennis_at_dennisrodwell.co.uk
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Historic City holistic management 2/2 Sibiu,
Transylvania, Romania Key outcomes of Citys
overall strategy

• Employment opportunities and skills city-wide
  unemployment dropped 20 to 5 from 2000 to 2006
• Technical and transport infrastructure
  substantially renewed (city centre)
• National and international transport links
  (commerce tourism) upgraded airport and main
  railway station
• Historic core housing rehabilitation and
  building restoration ongoing programmes
• European Capital of Culture 2007
• Ongoing bid for World Heritage Site status

dennis_at_dennisrodwell.co.uk
17
INTBAU Conference, Sibiu, September
2007 History, Heritage and Regeneration the
future for traditional architecture in Central
and Eastern Europe ________________ Central and
Eastern Europe Conservation Overview _____________
___ Dennis Rodwell, 24 September 2007
18
PART ONE Central and Eastern Europe pre-1990
skills and legacies
19
Post-WWII reconstruction of monuments

• Catherine Palace, Tsarskoie Selo, St Petersburg
  oblast, Russia
• (partial WWII destruction)
• Perfect restorations
• unrestored Tsars chapel patina of time a
  matter of shame rather than the subject of
  delight and pride

20
Post-WWII reconstruction of cities 1/2 historical
reconstructions
Warsaw Poland
Gdansk (total WWII destruction)

(partial WWII destruction)
21
Post-WWII reconstruction of cities 2/2
(comparative) harmonious reconstructions

• Nuremberg, Germany
• historic urban landscape and monuments restored
• modern interventions in harmony (pastiche?)

22
Alternative philosophies of restoration

• Viollet-le-Duc (France, 1866)
• to restore a building is not to preserve it,
  to repair it, or to rebuild it it is to
  reinstate it to a condition of completeness which
  may never have existed at any given point in
  time (historically interventionist)
• Athens (1931) and Venice (1964) Charters Pecs
  Declaration (2004)
• support use of modern materials and
  techniques such as reinforced concrete and
  mixes using modern cement (technically
  interventionist)
• Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings
  Manifesto (England 1877)
• to stave off decay by daily care (minimum
  intervention)
• Burra Charter (Australia, 1979 revised 1999)
• the best conservation often involves the
  least work and can be inexpensive (minimum
  intervention)

23
Pre/Post-1990 restoration of monuments

• Generally across the region
• specialised, archaeological and academic
  approach
• focus on research, debate and recording
• less on continuity of craft skills
• restored/reconstructed as monuments
• sustainable use not a motivation
• expensive and highly selective
• historically and technically interventionist
• minimum intervention not practised
• historic fabric and detailing frequently
  substituted
• poor maintenance

Ossuary, Bachkovo Monastery, Bulgaria
24
Pre/Post-1990 uses of modern materials 1/4
Rectors Palace, Dubrovnik, Croatia

• post-1979 earthquake restoration use of
  reinforced concrete
• rigidity leading to serious structural
  problems in subsequent tremors
• post-2000 restoration of neighbouring Bishops
  Palace enhanced traditional techniques

25
Pre/Post-1990 uses of modern materials 2/4
Banffy Castle, Bontida, Romania

• reinforced concrete ring beam inserted at
  eaves level
• over-design (and weight) of timber roof and
  intermediate floor structures

26
Pre/Post-1990 uses of modern materials 3/4

• Market Square, Brasov, Romania
• Ethnography Museum (part)
• traditional structural elements replaced in
  reinforced concrete
• dominance of structural engineers
• cf Casa Artelor, Piata Mica, Sibiu

27
Pre/Post-1990 uses of modern materials 4/4

• heavy-handed
• disregard for historic fabric and details

28
Pre-1990 urban conservation benign inaction

• Banska Stiavnica, Slovakia
• Across the region
• survival general, albeit neglected
• absence of economic pressures for
  redevelopment
• proactive projects very limited

29
Pre-1990 urban conservation museological
approach

• Ancient Reserve, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
• cultural zone detached from community
• c. 200 mansion houses/monuments
• limited perception of appropriate uses
• c. 50 underused, poor condition or derelict

30
1990 legacy of skills

• Catherine Palace, Tsarskoie Selo, St Petersburg
• Across the region
• top grade restoration skills focused on
  selected monuments and urban settings
• absence of legal provisions and policies
  geared to the free-market economy
• lack of experience in proactive urban
  conservation

31
1990 legacy of raw heritage

• Budapest, Hungary
• Across the region
• legacy of neglected but largely untouched
  lesser monuments and entire historic urban areas
  that is the envy of Western Europe and beyond

32
The challenge and the opportunity

• The challenge from Western Europe
• Today in most western countries it is the
  mis-spent wealth in development which is the
  biggest agent of the destruction of historic
  cities, not physical decay Graeme Shankland (UK,
  1968)
• The opportunity in Central and Eastern Europe
• to identify and adopt new approaches that
  coordinate cultural objectives with
  socio-economic interests and engage with twenty
  first century agendas, specifically
• intangible cultural heritage
• sustainability and sustainable development

33
PART TWO Heritage, Conservation and
Sustainability
34
Posing questions

• What do we mean by heritage and is it
  sufficiently valued?
• What do we mean by sustainability?
• Does heritage and its conservation make a
  sufficient contribution to sustainability?
• Should conservation be a specialism or a
  mainstream activity?
• What can we do to improve the situation?
• and are we serious about climate change?
• posing questions seeking answers

35
Concept of heritage past (only) 1/2

• Common perceptions today
• the culture, property, and characteristics of
  past times or,
• todays perception of a pattern of events in
  the past
• Within the historic environment these perceptions
  are encouraged by an academic approach that
  encourages an exclusive approach, one that is
  top-down rather than bottom-up, and is
  focused on looking backwards to what has been
  constructed in the past and conserving it as
  monuments.

36
Concept of heritage past (only) 2/2

• Is heritage simply a construct, one that
  relates only to history, that is packaged for
  education and tourism, and that is perceived to
  be divorced from individual and community life
  today?
• And is the purpose of architectural
  conservation simply
• the preservation of historical evidence, and
• to provide fuel for the heritage industry?
• Rasnov, by Brasov, Romania

37
Concept of heritage past, present, future

• UNESCO definition
• heritage is our legacy from the past, what we
  live with today, and what we pass on to future
  generations
• neither limited in time nor restricted to
  material (tangible) objects
• past seen as an entry point into the future
• This definition supports the increasing view that
  the perception of heritage as something that
  relates only to the past to be preserved or
  conserved needs to be substituted by an
  anthropological vision a dynamic approach that
  is focused on processes that safeguard
  geo-cultural identity and secure its creative
  continuity through engagement.
• culture perceived not as a restrictive academic
  concept but as a continuously evolving process
  and negotiation of connections.

38
Sustainability 1/6

• The most quoted definition the Brundtland
  Report (1987)
• Sustainable development is development that
  meets the needs of the present without
  compromising the ability of future generations to
  meet their own needs
• It is a holistic concept that embraces
  environmental, social and economic issues.
• Environmental issues are increasingly
  acknowledged to hold primacy in a world of
  climate change, global warming, and diminishing
  reserves of non-renewable natural resources.

39
Sustainability 2/6

• The Brundtland definition focuses on development.
  Sustainability is far more complex. It is not,
  for example, simply a question of designing green
  new buildings, making existing buildings green,
  disrupting or destroying their environmental
  performance and architectural features in the
  process, and substituting energy-greedy,
  limited-life alternatives (plastic windows, ).
• It embraces inter alia
• quality of life
• geo-cultural identity, distinctiveness and
  diversity
• a holistic approach that recognises, for
  example, the environmental capital of existing
  buildings, areas, and cities in relation to the
  natural resources of materials and energy that
  have gone into their construction.

40
Sustainability 3/6
mixed community .. Dubrovnik ..
street markets Sustainability recognises the
full range of socio-economic issues and values
including, in cities, mixed use functionality
down to the smallest scale.
41
Sustainability 4/6
1960 Paris, France
2006 it embraces identity and
distinctiveness of the historic urban landscape
and of human cultural traditions at the scale of
entire cities tangible intangible.
42
Sustainability 5/6
Krakow, Poland
Sibiu, Romania it embraces fabric
(Burra Charter) and authenticity (World Heritage
Convention and Nara Document), not just character
and appearance.
43
Sustainability 6/6
In short Sustainability is far more embracing
and conservative than current practice in either
architectural or urban conservation. By
recognising the environmental capital (embodied
energy) of existing buildings and urban areas it
reinforces architectural and historic interest
and underscores the principle of minimum
intervention as espoused from the SPAB
Manifesto of 1877 to the Burra Charter of 1999
(latest revision). Minimum intervention may
(indeed should) be applied not only to the
tangible heritage of buildings and ensembles but
also to the intangible heritage of socio-cultural
and -economic communities.
44
Specialism or mainstream activity?

• Consider the wealth of the architectural and
  urban heritage of Central and Eastern Europe
  monuments through to vernacular.
• Should conservation be
• A component of the core training of
  construction professions architects, engineers,
  surveyors,
• or a specialism that requires additional
  accreditation?
• How much value do we really attach to heritage
  in the broadest bottom-up sense, and how relevant
  is it to sustainability in todays world if it is
  simply a specialism?

45
Changing perceptions - 1975

• the starting point in a historic city must be
  its historic quality and visual character, not
• secondary social, economic or even ecological
  arguments

46
Changing perceptions - 1999

• asks,
• if the conservation movement, as it evolved
  from the eighteenth century, cannot be considered
  as concluded, and whether modern conservation
  should not be redefined in reference to the
  environmental sustainability of social and
  economic development within the overall cultural
  and ecological situation on earth

47
Changing perceptions - 2003
Conservation is not sustainable if it is only
carried out for cultural reasons Sylvio Mutal,
Vilnius
48
Some indicators - practice

• Recognition of the full values of historic
  buildings and historic cities.
• Achievement of self-sustaining continuity of
  training and employment opportunities in
  traditional, locally-based craft skills.
• Broaden the market place for these skills
• conservation creative continuity past,
  present, future timeline.
• specialist-expensive focused on selected
  monuments to normal-inexpensive spread across the
  full extent of the historic environment, thereby
  achieving geo-cultural continuity within the
  community.
• Reinforce traditional academic and conservator
  approaches.
• Engage with local communities as primordial
  and participatory stakeholders.
• Prioritise cultural continuity as an integral
  indeed fundamental component of sustainable
  socio-economic development.

49
Supply and demand balance
Edinburgh supply and demand Dubrovnik
natural stone, traditional joinery,
roof tiles,
50
Conservation and Sustainability in Historic
Cities (Blackwell Publishing, 2007)
sets out the complex background and endeavours
to take the debate forward
51
PART THREE Central and Eastern Europe post-1990
achievements
52
Across the Region Approaches to Integrated Urban
Conservation
53
Post-1990 urban conservation integrated
approach 1/4

• Kutna Hora, Czech Republic
• In an economically benign environment
• working with the longstanding inhabitants

54
Post-1990 urban conservation integrated
approach 2/4

• Vilnius, Lithuania
• In an economically aggressive environment
• OTRA seeking to balance conflicting forces
• rapidly changing population
• varying success

55
Post-1990 urban conservation integrated
approach 3/4

• Dubrovnik, Croatia
• In a climate of successive disaster
• earthquakes, tremors direct and indirect wars
• physical damages and economic disruption
  diversifying the local economy
• housing, community and cultural issues
  prioritised

56
Post-1990 urban conservation integrated
approach 4/4

• Zamosc, Poland
• In an economically challenging environment
• perception of the need to change the
  socio-economic profile of the population
• questionable as an appropriate or realistic
  regeneration strategy gentrification requires
  gentry

57
Romania Approaches to Sustainable
Conservation Rural Transylvania
58
Pre-1990 in Romania

• 1977 to 1990 national institutions of
  historic monument protection closed skills
  dormant or lapsed
• Sibiu historic centre survived

59
Post-1990 in Romania Malincrav
(Saxon village, Transylvania)

• involvement by Mihai Eminescu Trust (NGO)
• high level of building craft skills in the
  community
• restoration of former hunting lodge

60
Viscri
(Saxon village, Transylvania)

• involvement by Mihai Eminescu Trust
• extensive conservation programme in upper
  village
• relative isolation helps to protect both
  Malincrav and Viscri

61
Miclosoara 1/2
(Hungarian village, Transylvania)

• returning aristocratic owner
• craft skills introduced from other parts of
  Transylvania, 1990 onwards
• numerous derelict buildings being restored as
  guest houses/apartments

62
Miclosoara 2/2
(Hungarian village, Transylvania)

• providing employment within the local
  community c.25 full-time jobs
• restoration of former hunting lodge planned

63
Banffy Castle, Bontida 1/6 creative management
of a country palace reviving the local economy
Transylvania Trust (NGO) supported by
international organisations and private donors
64
Banffy Castle, Bontida 2/6

• derelict country palace and park
• commitment to restore and provide it with a
  function in the local community, using community
  resources to assist the restoration from adults
  to school children a community project in
  which all have an interest and a stake

65
Banffy Castle, Bontida 3/6

• mixed use restaurant, hotel and conference
  centre
• significant boost to local economy shops,
  guest houses
• sense of community ownership

66
Banffy Castle, Bontida 4/6
capacity building restoration through the
practical training of craft skills
post-graduate courses
67
Banffy Castle, Bontida 5/6
and full time employment opportunities for
local people
68
Banffy Castle, Bontida 6/6
Puppet show Comedy Magic pencil workshop
attracting visitor interest Bontida Days
cross-community involvement including Roma
community
69
Romania Approaches to Sustainable
Conservation Historic Centre of Sibiu
70
Sibiu 1/15 holistic management of a historic city
centre reviving the local economy and pride in
the community

skyline with Fagaras mountains behind (photo
credit Hermannstadt, Hermann und Alida
Fabini) Romanian-German Cooperation Project
Sibiu City Hall GTZ national, regional and
local partners GTZ (Deutsche) Gesellschaft
für Technische Zusammenarbeit
71
Sibiu 2/15
Piata Mica (2007)
Historic centre
72
Sibiu 3/15

• C12 founded by Saxon settlers.
• Historically, the cultural, political and
  religious centre of Transylvania.
• Historic core, 86.50 ha population, 14,000.
• Vernacular architecture predominates over
  monuments.
• 1998 UNESCO Council of Europe Conference
• identified threats
• promoted vision for a co-ordinated programme
  for conservation and sustainable development.

73
Sibiu 4/15
outer walls
view from upper town to lower
town
74
Sibiu 5/15
Year 2000 Charter for the Rehabilitation of the
Historic Center of Sibiu Argues that conserving
both the tangible and intangible heritage,
together with the living character of historic
Sibiu, is fundamental to preserving its identity
for future generations and securing a sustainable
future for it. Aim is to build local capacity
for urban rehabilitation and to instill a
conservation ethic and practice the people, the
institutions, the tools and the finance. Needs
include cross-sectoral and cross-disciplinary
coordination and management skills. Results
pioneer and exemplar of best practice in
integrated top-down/ bottom-up regeneration of a
historic city in Central and Eastern Europe.
75
Sibiu 6/15

• The city centre programme encompasses all aspects
  of urban management
• service infrastructure
• traffic and parking
• public spaces
• commerce
• retail
• cultural tourism
• townscape
• housing rehabilitation for the existing
  inhabitants
• capacity building amongst and between
  professionals
• revival of craft skills and the use of
  traditional materials and methods
• understanding of environmental performance
• advocacy of minimum intervention to buildings
  and community alike
• specialist training and support for new
  businesses

76
Sibiu 7/15

• Housing rehabilitation Survey
• Comprehensive study of housing conditions,
  socio-economic profile, residents views
• 60 per cent owner-occupied
• 50 per cent lacking basic amenities
• high proportion sharing toilets, bathrooms and
  kitchens
• low space standards
• low incomes
• high proportion elderly and retired
• 85 per cent wish to improve and stay
• strong self-help ethic, experience and
  enthusiasm

77
Sibiu 8/15

• Housing rehabilitation Implementation
• training of professionals, craftspeople and
  residents
• free initial counselling
• extensive range of free publications leaflets
  and booklets
• building awareness of the historical evolution
  and environmental performance of traditional
  buildings and advocating minimum intervention
  the careful, gradual, economic approach that
  respects significance and historical layers
• grant aid for external repairs and internal
  improvements takes into account contributions in
  kind by owners and tenants
• no distinction between listed and non-listed
  buildings
• support for setting-up small-scale workshops in
  the historic centre complete with associated
  residential accommodation

78
Sibiu 9/15
street scene upper to lower town (2002)
inner walls (2002)
79
Sibiu 10/15
The restoration of the exterior of this
restaurant (corner of Piata Mica) received an
award in 2002
80
Sibiu 11/15
Avram Iancu Street rehabilitation of a
courtyard and a street (2005)
81
Sibiu 12/15
campaigns and free leaflets 1/3 facades
82
Sibiu 13/15
campaigns and free leaflets 2/3 windows and
shutters
83
Sibiu 14/15
campaigns and free leaflets 3/3 No to PVC in
the historic centre!
84
Sibiu 15/15

• At a conference held in Ironbridge, UK, 2002
• Dave Askins, lecturer (Telford College of Arts
  and Technology) spoke of the Telford Schools
  World Heritage Project
• negative impact teaching heritage to passive
  consumers
• positive impact as participants invaluable
  ambassadors
• In Sibiu 2006
• Anti-PVC campaign
• competition amongst young people, won by an 8
  year-olds artwork
• celebratory barbecue held in Piata Mare hosted
  by the Mayor

85
Romania C and E Europe Region Achievements,
Opportunities and Threats
86
Achievements in Romania engaging with young
people
Other examples across Romania of involving local
communities and young people as participants in
and ambassadors for cultural and natural
heritage. Example nationwide schools project
supported by British Council following a training
workshop for NGOs in 2005
(Brasov market square)
87
Opportunities for cities across Romania

• Brasov
• Towards a National Strategy for Careful Urban
  Renewal in Romania, Institute for Housing
  Studies, 2006
• potential for the lessons and achievements of
  the Cooperation Project in Sibiu to be extended
  to historic cities across Romania

88
Opportunities for cities across Central and
Eastern Europe
Zamosc, Poland unlimited across the whole
region
89
Threats to the rural vernacular

• Maramures (Surdesti)
• traditional wooden houses sold for 5/700 Euros
• removed/recycled as buildings or for parquet
  flooring
• pre-1990 losses of vernacular architecture
  across Romania insignificant compared to
  post-1990.

90
Threats to traditional craft skills 1/2

• Cities across Poland (for example)
• traditional skills not adequately supported in
  conservation works
• example owners encouraged to select new
  joinery items from those generally available
  through catalogues repair techniques not
  employed
• failure of opportunity and responsibility to
  ensure survival of traditional craft skills and
  their availability at competitive rates.

Krakow, Poland
91
Threats to traditional craft skills 2/2

• Cities across Romania (for example)
• hard landscaping streets and pavements
• inadequate supply of traditional materials and
  craft skills preventing the replacement of
  disturbed and worn surfaces and their sub-strata
  to conservation standards.

Sighisoara, Romania
92
BY WAY OF CONCLUSION
93
Awareness-raising and capacity building

• Include at
• individual and community levels
• traditional and creative crafts
• building professions and teaching institutions
• public utilities
• cross-sectoral management and administration
• Engage with
• governmental institutions, legal frameworks
  and procedures, financial provisions and
  programmes
• And prioritise
• cultural continuity as an integral component
  of sustainable socio-economic development.

94
The anthropological vision

• A dynamic approach that is focused on
  processes that safeguard geo-cultural identity
  and secure its creative continuity.
• Move away from the conservation vs
  creativity conflict. Under sustainability,
  conservation and creativity should be in harmony.
  
• Challenge the architectural profession
  architect master builder no more and no
  less. Today, a 3-tier profession creativity
  (novelty iconic) pastiche and conservation.
  Few skills of constructive and creative reuse.
• Recognise and respect environmental capital
  not just of certain buildings but of cities as a
  whole.
• Focus on existing socio-economic communities
  and sustaining them devise conservation and
  rehabilitation programmes to suit. Such is one of
  the several beneficial lessons from the Sibiu
  experience existing inhabitants engaged as key
  stakeholders young people as ambassadors.

95
Success is not final, failure is not fatal it
is the courage to continue that counts.
Winston S Churchill
96
Thank you
dennis_at_dennisrodwell.co.uk