UNESCO grants chair to the University of Porto in Heritage Studies
Article
Filipa Brito
The Chair "Heritage, Cities and Landscape. Sustainable Management, Conservation, Planning and Project" will be coordinated by the Faculty of Architecture (FAUP).
The first UNESCO Chair in Heritage Studies, coordinated by Professor Teresa Cunha Ferreira, jointly with Professor Rui Fernandes Póvoas, is the outcome of a demanding screening by a team of international experts, following an application submitted by FAUP.
This chair will cover two priority area, namely teaching and advanced training, research and knowledge sharing as well as international cooperation.
The granting of this Chair serves as an important recognition of the improvements that FAUP has carried out throughout the years, both on campus and at its Architecture Study Centre (CEAU), with the purpose of safeguarding heritage as a qualified driver of development of the territory, the cities and the landscape.
This Chair will also focus on the management and conservation of the cultural heritage, as well as on the planning processes and projects, with the goal of promoting a qualified contemporary approach to heritage resources.
Moreover, the Chair is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda, when it comes to developing innovative and sustainable management practices and the valuing of cultural heritage as a development resource.
The UNESCO Chair of FAUP will also support the management of new processes to designate World Heritage sites both in Portugal and abroad, especially regarding the north-south cooperation, including countries whose heritage is either of Portuguese origin or was influenced by the Portuguese presence (Africa, Asia, and South America).
This project is meant to be established as an open, collaborative and dynamic platform, which will boost national and international cooperation networks (NGOs, Higher education institutions, public and private entities, networks of UNESCO's Chairs, among others).
The UNESCO Chair shall cover a period of four years, and it can be renewed upon assessment by a UNESCO board.
There are in Portugal 13 UNESCO Chairs and besides this newly granted Heritage Chair to FAUP, themed "Heritage, Cities and Landscapes. Sustainable Management, Conservation, Planning and Project", the UNESCO Chair 'Life on Land' is ongoing at the CIBIO-InBIO since 2017.