UNESCO Chair

for Cultural Heritage and Urbanism

Cities and regions around the world are affected by structural change and are facing extensive transformation processes, the extent of which can currently only be guessed at. Mitigating and adapting to climate change, preventing rural exodus, dealing with resource management and resilience as well as the co-productive design of urban landscapes are among the key challenges in terms of sustainable and inclusive spatial development. This can only be successful if it succeeds in preserving the specific cultural heritage and thus the identity of a place.

Opening ceremony of the new UNESCO Chair at the RWTH
Heike Lachmann
Prof. Christa Reicher, UNESCO Chair for Cultural Heritage and Urbanism
Peter Winandy

In order to meet these challenges appropriately, the Chair of Urban Planning and Design and the Institute of Urban Planning and European Urban Studies have successfully applied for recognition as UNESCO Chair for Cultural Heritage and Urbanism with a focus on safeguarding the intangible and tangible heritage of the built environment. The application to establish the UNESCO Chair, based at the Faculty of Architecture at RWTH, was approved by UNESCO in Paris in fall 2022 and established in spring 2023.

The UNESCO Chair is therefore part of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chair Program. The Chair’s task is to shape the transformation of urban regions in a sustainable way and thus contribute to the concrete implementation of the global sustainability goals. In research and teaching – especially with the master’s degree program “Transforming City Regions” – the Chair wants to dedicate itself to interdisciplinary education and transformative research on a global scale. Among other things, at least two UNESCO-related courses are offered each semester. In close cooperation with the German UNESCO Commission, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the organizations ICOMOS, ICCROM and IICN, the discourse on the future of historic urban landscapes is to be stimulated and made visible to the public.

Further information:

www.uccu.rwth-aachen.de

Focused SDGs:

SDG 4 – Quality Education
SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production
SDG 13 – Climate Action
SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals

Organization unit:

Chair of Urban Design | Chair of Urban Design
Institute for Urban Design and European Urbanism | Institute for Urban Design and European Urbanism
UNESCO Chair for Cultural Heritage and Urbanism | UNESCO Chair for Cultural Heritage and Urbanism