Regensburg, Germany

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SHORT DESCRIPTION

In Regensburg, various steps have been taken to provide a sustainable development in the historic urban landscape. Abounding with cultural properties to testify to its history as a trading center and its influence on the region, this Bavarian city is now in the UNESCO World Heritage List and it hosted a european-scale city networking project as the coordinating partner.

More info: Stadt Regensburg official website

POPULATION

156 800 (2014, Bevölkerungsstatistik der Stadt Regensburg)

LAND AREA

Core zone of Heritage Area: 182, 8 hectares; buffer zone: 775, 6 hectares

KEY CHALLENGES

Tangible cultural heritage; culture and tourism; economic development; housing; mobility; urban planning and development; environmental issues and leisure; awareness raising and research

TIMELINE

1989- on-going

HERITAGE PROTECTION

The protection of the World Heritage area is ensured by way of legal norms and conventions at international, national and local level. At the international level, this is implemented by way of conventions, charters and European treaties. At the national level, the building and environmental protection laws play a significant safeguarding role. At the state level, the Denkmalschutzgesetz,(Historical Buildings / Monuments Act), and the Building Regulations are important protective instruments worth mentioning.

More info: Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments

MAIN PARTNERS

Stakeholders at a local level

Departments of the City of Regensburg

Amt für Archiv und Denkmalpflege

Stadtplanungsamt (City Planning Office)

Bauordnungsamt (Building Regulation Dept.)

Institutions and agencies at local level

Design Advisory Committee of the City of Regensburg

IHK Regensburg (Chamber of Trade and Industry)

Welterbe-Steuerungskomitee (World Heritage steering committee)

Associations and initiatives of citizens

Aktionsgemeinschaft Altstadt e. V.

Historischer Verein für Oberpfalz und Regensburg e. V.

KultTouren e. V. – Verband der Regensburger Gästeführer

Stadtmarketing Regensburg e. V. (City Marketing Assoc.)

Vereinigung Freunde der Altstadt Regensburg e. V.

Welterbe Kulturfonds Regensburg – die Förderer e. V.

Stakeholders at Land level

Bavarian State Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts

Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology

Bavarian State Department of Historical Monuments

Oberste Baubehörde im Bayerischen Staatsministerium des Innern (State Building Authority, Bavarian Ministry of the Interior)

Oberpfalz Government

State Monument and Historical Buildings Conservation Advisory Board

Stakeholders at federal level

Permanent Standing Conference of Education and Cultural Ministers of the Länder (Kultusministerkonferenz)

German National Committee on the Protection of Monuments

German National ICOMOS committee

German Commission for UNESCO

UNESCO-Welterbestätten Deutschland e. V.

International stakeholders

UNESCO World Heritage Committee

ICOMOS International

MAIN ACTIVITIES

[1989] The first efforts are made to inscribe Regensburg as World Heritage Site.

[1990’s]The Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs at the state level confer with each other and decide that only World Heritage applications from the area encompassing the former GDR will be considered.

[1990] The Cultural Advisor to the City of Regensburg prioritizes the World Heritage application process.

[2001] The staff of the Department of Historic Buildings has grown to include an art historian and a restoration expert, so that work can now go ahead on the application process.

[2002] UNESCO’s requirements continue to heighten the application process

[2004] The application is initially submitted to the Bavarian Ministry for Science, Research and Art. Then it passed on via the Assembly for State Ministers of Culture and Education to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then forwarded to UNESCO’s World Heritage Office.

[2005] UNESCO specifies further requirements, which are immediately provided. UNESCO assigns an assessor to Regensburg and he spends several days inspecting the city on location in September.

[2006] The application is presented at the UNESCO Committee meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania – Regensburg is to be enlisted as a World Heritage Site.

[2006] The ‘Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof’ was designated a World Heritage Site at the 30th Session of the World Heritage Committee, in Vilnius, Lithuania.

[2008] Regensburg coordinates a Europe-wide city network on the sustainable development of historic urban landscapes within the EU Project HerO.

[2011] The World Heritage Visitor Centre Regensburg inside the historic Salt Barn is opened.

[2011] The Regional Secretariat Northwest Europe and North America of the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) is hosted by the World Heritage Management unit of the City of Regensburg.

[2012] Interdisciplinary working group revises the management plan for the UNESCO World Heritage site “Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof” and printed in January.

[2015] The EU Project COMUS starts in partnership with the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC), is assisting the pilot towns in developing innovative strategies for urban development.

[2016] Regensburg celebrates 10. anniversary of being enlisted as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.