World Heritage Site | EPFL Graph Search

A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, scientific or other forms of significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity". To be selected, a World Heritage Site must be a somehow unique landmark which is geographically and historically identifiable and has special cultural or physical significance. For example, World Heritage Sites might be ancient ruins or historical structures, buildings, cities, deserts, forests, islands, lakes, monuments, mountains, or wilderness areas. A World Heritage Site may signify a remarkable accomplishment of humanity, and serve as evidence of our intellectual history on the planet, or it might be a place of great na

Le Locle/La Chaux-de-Fonds: Public histories and industrial heritage in contemporary cities

Filippo De Pieri, Florence Graezer Bideau

Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds were inscribed in the World Heritage List in 2009 under the label “watchmaking town planning”. The contribution aims at developing a few questions linked to this heritage site. To what extent the “outstanding universal values” recognized by UNESCO allow to identify a specific type of industrial urbanism? Are these two cities representative of the transformation of production space in Switzerland? Do they perhaps offer a counter-example - as Marx famously argued in The Capital - of spatial and social articulation of industrial production? Which kind of relationship exists today between the territorial transformations affecting them and the diffusion of a set of shared public narratives about the urban past? Finally, beyond this UNESCO recognition, which urban memories have shaped the two cities in terms of space, identity, and economy?

2022

Visualising and revitalising traditional Chinese martial arts Visitors' engagement and learning experience at the 300 years of Hakka Kungfu

Sarah Irene Brutton Kenderdine, Jeffrey Shaw

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how the emergent 3D interactive media technologies are used as a viable tool for enhancing visitors' overall experiences at an exhibition entitled, 300 Years of Hakka Kungfu - Digital Vision of Its Legacy and Future (Hakka Kungfu Exhibition) - presented and co-organized by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of Hong Kong, International Guoshu Association and the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey in both online and paper-based formats was used for identifying visitors' experiences in the interactions with the multimedia technologies. For this research study, a questionnaire, consisting of 26 items, was set out to measure the visitors' experiences at the Exhibition. Since the Exhibition was about presenting a centuries-old Chinese cultural heritage, Hakka Kungfu via the use multimedia technologies, in the context of establishing a dialogue between the past and present, the researchers included questionnaire items that were devoted to enquire about the level of understanding, knowledge and enjoyment, and visitors' new knowledge about Hong Kong history and culture was successfully disseminated to the respondents at the end of the questionnaire. Findings A total of 209 completed questionnaires were collected at this Hakka Kungfu Exhibition. The findings reveal that the exhibits did attract people at all ages. This Exhibition gave the visitors a sense of interest and wonder in the object and information presented in the Exhibition. Findings of this study also reveal that this Exhibition has successfully attracted a large number of female visitors, as well as visitors who have never taken any martial arts training. In addition, visitors' Exhibition experience was found to be memorable, as well as enjoyable. Furthermore, visitors' experience within the Exhibition suggested that it was entertaining, as well as educational. By creating a long-lasting impact on the minds of these Exhibition visitors about the connections between and relevance of traditional Chinese Kungfu, their collective cultural identity, as well as the contemporary society we live in. The Exhibition exemplified the successful integration of the presentation of Kungfu as a form of cultural heritage with engagement-creating technology, in which technology is unobtrusive but effective. Originality/value Although it is already a global trend for the museums to integrate multimedia technologies into their exhibitions, research on the situation and feedback of multimedia technology used in the museum exhibitions in Hong Kong is scarce as well as scattered. Findings of this study could help identify various factors involved in audience participation, thereby exploring the possibility of building a contact point/space for traditional Chinese Kungfu as an intangible cultural heritage, via the integration of the latest media technologies. In particular, the development of multimedia technologies has become increasingly important to museums, and museum professionals have been exploring how digital and communication technologies can be developed to offer visitors a more interactive, personalized museum experience. In general, despite the growing interest in deploying digital technology as interpretation devices in museums and galleries, there are relatively few studies that examine how visitors, both alone and with others, use new technologies when exploring the museum contents.

EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD2019

Multiculturalism, cosmopolitanism, and making heritage in Malaysia: a view from the historic cities of the Straits of Malacca

Florence Graezer Bideau

Based on the 'universal' values of economic development, democratic governance and cultural diversity promoted by UNESCO, the official policy of the Federation of Malaysia, known as Wawasan 2020 (Vision 2020), promotes modernization with an emphasis on democracy, tolerance, culture and economic development, and asserts the multicultural character of Malaysian society while upholding the peaceful coexistence of its three largest communities (Malays, Chinese and Indians). The joint inscription of the two historic Straits cities of Melaka and George Town on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2008 was a reaffirmation of that policy. Our study illustrates the construction of this social model through the heritage process which was based on the tangible as well as the intangible heritage of the different ethnic groups that make up the Malaysian nation. Dubbed the 'Rainbow Nation' by the British during the colonial era, postcolonial Malaysia has reappropriated the label to construct its present and future identity. We focus on the agency of civil society activists, government officials and international experts in the process that mobilised, in turn, the values of nationalism and internationalism, communitarianism and multiculturalism, and universalism and cosmopolitanism.

Taylor & Francis2012

Visualising and revitalising traditional Chinese martial arts Visitors' engagement and learning experience at the 300 years of Hakka Kungfu

Sarah Irene Brutton Kenderdine, Jeffrey Shaw

EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD2019