Madhya Pradesh: Gwalior, Orcha inscribed on UNESCO's World heritage list

BHOPAL: Gwalior and Orcha in Madhya Pradesh have been included in the list of UNESCO’s world heritage cities under its urban landscape city programme, according to an official release issued by the government on Sunday.

UNESCO's approach to managing historic urban landscapes is holistic by integrating the goals of urban heritage conservation and those of social and economic development.This method sees urban heritage as a social, cultural and economic asset for the development of cities, says its report.
“The Historic Urban Landscape approach moves beyond the preservation of the physical environment and focuses on the entire human environment with all of its tangible and intangible qualities,” according to UNESCO’s official site.
It seeks to increase the sustainability of planning and design interventions by taking into account the existing built environment, intangible heritage, cultural diversity, socio-economic and environmental factors along with local community values.
This programme focuses on involving more people in preservation efforts, raise levels of awareness, and seek innovative schemes. By actively engaging public, private and civic sectors the city, historic and contemporary, can be better preserved and celebrated.
“If dealt with properly, urban heritage will act as a catalyst for socio-economic development through tourism, commercial use, and higher land and property values – thereby providing the revenues out of which to pay for maintenance, restoration and rehabilitation,” according to UNESCO.
“Urban heritage areas generate much higher returns than areas devoid of any cultural historic significance. Proximity to world-class monuments and sites usually draws high-end service-sector businesses and residents, who are willing to pay more for locations with prestige and status. This is reflected in land and property values."
The 250-plus historic cities that have been included in the World Heritage List deliver very significant socio-economic benefits at the local and national levels - not only through tourism and related goods and services, but also through other functions, it says.
UNESCO also claims that “Urban heritage areas often demand enhanced management, because of more and/or stricter regulations controlling and monitoring the built environment, which improves planning and design if properly executed. This, in turn, increases certainty for investors as regards the safety of their investments in the long term”.