People talk at tables and two people write onto large notepads during a workshop

During the workshop for new mayors, one of the key ideas to foster discussion was to break the group of 21 participants into smaller clusters. Here, Mario Castillo (Cusco architect, foreground left) and Jeff Cody (GCI, background left) note down the groups' summary points.

In collaboration with the OWHC and the City of Cusco, the Conservation Institute organized the scientific track of the OWHC 8th World Symposium, held in Cusco, Peru, September 19–23, 2005, under the theme "Heritage of Humankind, a Heritage with Humanity." The Institute was helped by a scientific committee and worked closely with the board of the OWHC.

More than 1,150 people participated in the World Symposium, 650 of whom were students who followed the presentations and the debates via closed-circuit video. The important issues discussed by the participants concerned the participation of citizens in the conservation efforts of their cities, the intangible heritage associated with historic cities, and the quality of the visitors' experience in World Heritage Cities.

Scientific Track Sessions

The scientific track sessions were organized in a way to provide participants with the opportunity to share their experiences in small group discussions. The sessions began with a guest speaker making an introductory presentation on each subtheme in plenary, which was translated into the three official languages of the OWHC—English, French, and Spanish. The room was then subdivided into three smaller rooms, one for each official language. Participants were invited to move to one of these rooms, where short presentations of case studies were made by a mayor of a World Heritage City and a conservation professional. A mayor of a World Heritage City also moderated each session.

Following each presentation, the participants were asked to discuss key questions. This guided the debates, the key ideas of which participants could use in preserving heritage cities. Three rapporteurs summarized and organized all these ideas and shared them with the participants at the end of the scientific sessions. A number of participants expressed appreciation both for the format of the sessions, which encouraged discussion, and the presentation of the conclusions by the rapporteurs.

Pre-symposium Introductory Course for Newly Elected Mayors

Mayors’ workshop: The pre-congress mayors’ workshop organized by the Institute had three objectives: (1) to encourage vigorous discussion regarding common issues confronted by OWHC mayors, (2) to focus on mayors' responsibilities towards cultural heritage, and (3) to utilize a case study example from the hosting city to complement the points raised during presentations and discussions, in order to familiarize participants with the challenges confronted by the city's management.

This workshop was attended by twenty-two newly elected mayors and by officials especially interested in learning about their special responsibilities in running a World Heritage city and about the resources at their disposal. The workshop was conducted in English and Spanish, and was organized around brief presentations and discussions focused on the mayors' own experiences, problems, and solutions concerning cultural heritage protection; it included a case study of a site within the host city of Cusco.

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