HERITAGE MANAGAMENT AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES AND OPPERTUNITIES

Abstract

The Built Heritage belongs to a particular country or nation whether it could be an ancient city,building or statute, is unique in location and creation. The value associated with it isincomparable due to this character. The built heritage is the link to past, although their originalpurpose has now gone. The historical bu". form of a city is an inheritance of the legacy ofhistory. It records a wealth of information on the development process as well as the wisdom andcreativity of mankind. The cultural, aesthetic and spiritual values embodied in the built heritageare quite different from many other environmental resources.

The built heritage in urban areas is at a risk due to various disastrous problems, both natural andman-made. The so-called development both economic and physical has significant impact onheritage properties and may even be threaten with destruction, It is important to take appropriatemeasures to conserve the built heritage in urban areas and face up to challenges from variousdirections. The crucial issue is to find ways and means to balance the development andconservation efforts. Though there is a consensus on the value of built heritage and rational forconservation, the dilemma is found on the clash between the objectives of development plansand conservation efforts. Urban development efforts in developing countries are faced withseveral challenges compared to the developed countries. Poverty, high rate of unemployment,urban informal sector, poor housing and infrastructure are some of them. Under thesecircumstances the value of built heritage has been weighed only in the shadow of the financialbenefits. It is noted that in some instances the economic interests placed in urban developmentplans carry more value than the value of built heritag. Besides these economic impacts, thecomplete negligence of conservation or absence of heritage management plans integrated withthe urban development plans are the most common phenomena seen in developing countries.

The ideal situation which guarantee both the security of cultural properties and economicproperty is the formulation of heritage management plans and urban development plans on thebasis of mutually sustainable manner. This paper analyses the issues faced in conservation andmanagement of urban built heritage in the process of urban development in developingcountries. Similarly the potentials for integration (If built heritage in the urban developmentprocess have been discussed. The necessary examples have been drawn from Sri Lanka toestablish the facts.