Cities in Transition: A review of historical discourses, planning decisions and conservation strategies

International conference
Chair of Heritage Conservation (TU Wien) in cooperation with University of Bamberg, Centre for Heritage Conservation Studies and Technologies (KDWT) and the research network UrbanMetaMapping

Conservation of built heritage does not only occur through care and preservation measures and the application of protection instruments, but is evoked and influenced by different actions: through recording, documentation and the attribution of values, through the development and establishment of planning instruments, through social and professional discourses and, last but not least, through the use of visual media, through photography, film, maps and digital media. Often these processes occur in response to rapid structural changes, through targeted urban redevelopment processes, or the destruction caused by war and natural disasters. The lasting effect of these phenomena on the development of cities is particularly evident when looking back at historical processes, such as the reconstruction after the Second World War.

This interdisciplinary conference asks: Which phenomena in society, planning and heritage conservation accompanied historical transformation processes of cities and, above all, (how) did they interact? What insights can be drawn from the observation of historical processes and what can be derived from them for current developments? The focus of interest lies on historical processes of evaluation, selection, and planning in the historic building stock and the discourses of different players – individuals, institutions, or organisations – that accompanied these processes. Also to be examined are the effects of planning and conservation decisions not only on the built but also on the social structure of cities.