ICOMOS lezing: Urban Conservation & Developments – Reflections from India, DutchCulture, Amsterdam, 19 October 2022, 19h30

Met twee in Nederland werkzame gastsprekers uit India, experts op het gebied van stedelijke ontwikkeling en erfgoed behoud, komt vanavond het perspectief vanuit India bezien aan bod. Ritika Khanna spiegelt de hedendaagse trends in stadsontwikkeling aan de UNESCO Conventions. Shyam Khandekar schetst de dilemma’s bij behoud / cq hergebruik van stedelijk erfgoed èn identiteit in Nederland en India. De ICOMOS Lezingencommissie nodigt u uit.

Dear ICOMOS-members,
 
After a long summer break, we are very happy to invite you back for a new ICOMOS lecture season. The first lecture of this year’s fall will again be a physical encounter at the premises of our welcoming host DutchCulture in Amsterdam. As we are used to, this evening will be preceded by informal drinks and a simple meal.
 
Unlike the online lectures, we have a limited capacity for attendance. We can only accommodate 30 people. For that reason we ask you to register for attendance. Please use the register form through this link. Here you can also  register for the preceding drinks and meal.
 
Unlike the online lectures we have to charge an attendance fee to cover costs. Attendance is EURO 5,- (be it, only for non-members; for ICOMOS-members attendance is free of charge). If you join the preceding drinks and meal, you contribute EURO 15,-. All payments can only be done by bank transfer on the spot.
 
This month’s lecture evening we welcome two professional guest speakers from India. Both migrated to the Netherlands; the one already in the mid-1970-ies, the other only this year. Both are deeply involved in the historic urban landscape. Each from her/his own angle; the one from a heritage perspective, the other from a design perspective. Two dimensions of the same topical subject, that in combination can bring fruitful result.
 
We hope you will join us!
Kind regards,
 
The ICOMOS Netherlands Lecture Committee:
Ankie Petersen, Ardjuna Candotti, Jacomine Hendrikse, Daan Lavies,
Jean-Paul Corten, Maurits van Putten, Remco Vermeulen and Sofia Lovegrove

Date:  19 October 2022
Time: 19h30-21h30 (drinks and meal from 18h30)
Place: DutchCulture, Herengracht 474 Amsterdam
Language: English

PROGRAMME

18h30      Drinks and meal
19h30      Heritage Management based on UNESCO’s Cultural Conventions: Reflections from India by Ritika Khanna
20h00      Q&A
20h15      Break
20h30      Designing with Heritage in India by Shyam Khandekar
21h00      Q&A
21h30      End

Lectures:

Heritage Management based on UNESCO’s Cultural Conventions: Reflections from India by Ritika Khanna

The United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is the largest international entity offering mechanisms for the safeguarding of culture and heritage. The various cultural conventions, recommendations and declarations set out by UNESCO systematically address all aspects of tangible and intangible heritage. While recognition under these conventions leads to enhanced protection of heritage properties and practices, the stark split between tangible and intangible often prevents holistic preservation of culture. By reflecting on India’s association with UNESCO’s cultural conventions, the talk will highlight the need to implement a more comprehensive and integrated approach to managing heritage under UNESCO’s framework, particularly in the wake of ever-increasing urban challenges.

DESIGNING WITH HERITAGE IN INDIA by Shyam Khandekar

In his presentation Shyam Khandekar will delve on his experience as a design professional dealing with heritage in India – and of the process of adaptive reuse of sites and buildings which (though may not be listed) still have character and identity moulded by history.
While the focus of his presentation will be on his work in India in the last 10 years, he will, where necessary, also compare his experience in India with his experience in Netherlands.
 
He will show how in India- teaming up with an enlightened client – in Alembic City Vadodara, in the last 5 years a dilapidated industrial area ( buildings, artefacts and spaces – none of them listed but all with characteristic historic identity for those who were willing to see that ) has been converted into a cultural and recreative hub for this provincial city. 
He will explain how the larger vision for the Alembic City has got a great impulse through the creation of this cultural hub. 

Finally, while being a great exponent of heritage and its potential for more liveable cities for all, he will end with three dilemmas.
A. Does the listing of buildings ( and the subsequent regulations), by its very definition, hinder reuse and redevelopment ?
B. Instead of buildings should we not be focussing more on urban spaces and landscape to emphasize heritage – since it is in these spaces that intangible heritage – activities such as festivals, take place which keeps the urban spirit alive ?
and 
C. When hundreds of years of natural history ( Nature) on this planet is being destroyed every day by us, does not our concerns about the history of occupation ( by humans ) at the cost of other species and nature, in all humbleness, sound hollow. Should therefore the main criterium for promoting reuse be Nature-centric and not Human-centric?

Speakers:

Ritika Khanna is a heritage professional from India with a specialization in the cultural conventions of UNESCO. She holds a Master’s in Art History from National Museum Institute, Delhi and a Master’s in World Heritage Studies from BTU-Cottbus, Germany. As a UNESCO consultant to the Government of India, Ritika has contributed to several assignments such as the preparation of nomination dossiers for Intangible Cultural Heritage and World Heritage, India’s 2020 Periodic Report for the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, 2021 Periodic Report for the 1972 World Heritage Convention, and compilation of India’s National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Ritika has also worked with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and is the former National Representative of the Emerging Professionals’ Working Group of ICOMOS India. 

Shyam Khandekar was trained as an urban-designer ( University of Manchester, UK), urban-planner ( TUDelft, NL) and architect ( IIT, India). Working in the design field, since mid-1970s Shyam has over 4 decades of design experience leading major urban design projects in Netherlands including Paleiskwartier in s’Hertogenbosch and revitalising plan for the historic city of Coevorden and Zutphen. Since the last 15 years he has also been involved in major urban projects in India, where he has been responsible for the design of new campuses for IITMandi and IITJodhpur. He has also designed the award-winning Nirlon Knowledge Park in Mumbai which offers work to 35000 persons. Since 6 years he is designing Alembic Cities in Vadodara and Bangalore. In both of these projects, out-of-use large industrial areas are being redeveloped into new open urban areas – building upon their industrial heritage. Shyam Khandekar is also co-founder and director of MY LIVEABLE CITY ( www.myliveablecity.com), an international knowledge platform which publishes magazines and books, holds conferences and organizes short-term educational programs for professionals from countries of the emerging economies. He is co-author of books Affordable Housing and Inclusive Cities ( 2015), Designing for Sustainability through Upcycling : Learning from Paleiskwartier ( 2019) and Streets for All: 50 Ideas for shaping Resilient Cities (2022).