On 15 October 2024, Prof. SHAO Yong, Secretary General and Director of WHITRAP Shanghai met with Lazare ELOUNDOU ASSOMO, Director of the World Heritage Centre, UNESCO at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. The meeting was also attended by Jyoti HOSAGRAHAR, Deputy Director of the World Heritage Centre as well as Himalchuli GURUNG, Head of the Asia and the Pacific Unit, World Heritage Centre and Marie-Noël TOURNOUX, Project Director WHITRAP Shanghai.
The meeting allowed to discuss the Category 2 Centre (C2C) framework and UNESCO’s strategy to strengthen ties with C2C. WHITRAP’s activities were highly acknowledged by the World Heritage Centre. The Centre detailed it’s priorities and Prof. SHAO Yong presented a short summary of WHITRAP’s activities since the 2020 mid-term report and the last board meeting, its focus on training and capacity building, research on urban heritage, SDGS, Climate Change, and building networks and linking all actors of the heritage community, including youth. Furthermore, WHITRAP reiterated its invitation to UNESCO to participate in HeritAP and UHC-HEI activities and further discuss working methods regarding these two activities and in general.
The meeting was followed by a separate meeting with the Deputy Director to further discuss activities on the implementation of the Historic Urban Landscape Recommendations and conservation and development of World Heritage Cities. Prof. SHAO Yong and Marie-Noël TOURNOUX also held sideline discussions with several members of the World Heritage Centre, such as Muhammad Juma MUHAMMAD, Head of the Africa Unit. They ended their visit with a brief meeting with Ke LENG, Programme Coordinator, Cultural Policies and Development of the Culture Sector to further present WHITRAP and Tongji CAUP international network on Urban-rural Heritage Conservation in Higher Education Institutions (UHC-HEI), discuss follow up activities to the UNESCO intergovernmental Conference on Culture and Arts Education (Abu Dhabi, February 2024) and the work of the Policy unit, which is interested in considering culture and heritage at large encompassing the other UNESCO Culture Convention. The meeting was an opportunity to present more in detail the two forthcoming UHC-HEI activities, the 2025 conference on “Reshaping Heritage Conservation In Higher Education: What, How, For Whom?” and a Study on Higher Education Systems of Urban-rural Heritage Conservation for Sustainable Development, the questionnaire of which is being finalized.
On 21 October afternoon, the « Leçon Inaugurale » of the Ecole de Chaillot was held with a focus on UNESCO’s action for heritage and World Heritage conservation. Audrey AZOULAY, Director General of UNESCO and Lazare ELOUNDOU ASSOMO, Director of the World Heritage Centre gave presentations to the students, professors and general public on the significance of architecture and architectural heritage in the world. Prof. SHAO Yong and LOU Yongqi, Vice President of Tongji met with them and presented the book “World Heritage in China: Historic Cities”.
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