Old Cities, New Challenges Course

The Southeast Asia region faces formidable challenges to the conservation of its urban cultural heritage from population growth, urbanization trends, intensifying tourism, along with economic and infrastructure development. To help improve conservation practice within the region, we are partnering with Think City Institute to offer this course for Southeast Asian urban planners, architects, and associated urban conservation professionals that examines methodologies, practical tools, and techniques for the conservation of historic places. First held in Penang, Malaysia in 2018, this course moved online in 2021 and 2024.

Created for mid-career urban planners, architects, and associated urban conservation professionals from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, "Old Cities, New Challenges" seeks to teach participants how to manage the challenges of a historic site in their respective cities.

Topics addressed include:

• Examination of international approaches, including Historic Urban Landscape
• Documentation of tangible and intangible heritage assets, including cultural mapping -Identification of cultural significance of historic places, resulting in a statement of significance
• Heritage economics, related to cultural capital and sustainability
• Infill development in historic areas
• Goals, strategies, and components of an urban conservation plan, resulting in participants’ drafting a plan for a specific site and conducting a heritage impact assessment.

The Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach, particularly the “six steps’’ and “four tools,” is used as a key methodology to demonstrate how useful they are in sustainable urban conservation. The course explores the meaning and implications of sustainability concerning the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

This course is an eight-week fully remote learning experience using an online learning management system, with a one-week break between weeks four and five.

Participants attend live 90-minute sessions once a week with instructors. After these live sessions, short pre-recorded presentations are available for participants for independent learning until the next week’s session.

A team of instructors and invited speakers share their practical expertise related to the conservation of historic places.

Caroline Cheong, Cultural heritage and economic development planner