BMUB Congress "European cities and their heritage" opens
Today in Berlin, State Secretary for Building Gunther Adler and Czech Minister for Regional Development Karla Šlechtová jointly opened the second international BMUB congress "European cities and their heritage". The congress focusses on architectural layers of history in European cities and the opportunities and possibilities they provide for future-oriented urban development. The event brings together six hundred and fifty participants from the areas of urban planning, architecture, architectural conservation, culture, science and administration to discuss current developments in urban planning in Europe.
State Secretary Adler explained: "European cities today have to serve many purposes. They are cities for living and working, seats of industry and service and places for culture, sports and events. Cities therefore also have to keep up with the structural transformations taking place in politics, society, the climate and the economy. Historical city districts play a major role in this. Their structure must be maintained and their historical fabric seen as a source of invaluable potential."
The second European Congress on European cities and their heritage, under the heading "the faces of history", asks the following questions: How do we approach urban design today amidst the patchwork and overlap of different historical architectures? How do European cities, with their historical building stock, continue their development against the backdrop of the current challenges of growth and attrition and changes in economy and climate? This second European Congress is also a prelude to Germany's preparations for the European Cultural Heritage Year (ECHY 2018), to be declared by the European Commission in 2018.
In Germany, joint federal and state programmes for urban development assistance are important catalysts for urban development. The federal government will provide these programmes with over one billion euros in 2017. The assistance programme "Protection of urban architectural heritage" aims to promote the structurally coherent development of architecturally and culturally valuable city centres and other areas with structures worthy of preservation. Under this programme, the federal government, states and municipalities are taking responsibility for architectural heritage. On the second day of the congress, Federal Building Minister Barbara Hendricks will hold a speech on the challenges that cultural heritage presents for urban development.