He Congress of the Organization of Heritage Cities He is living his last day this Friday in Cordoba. The mayor, the popular José María Bellido, appeared to account for his conclusions. The first mayor highlighted that this forum is a group of cities that have obtained the prestigious UNESCO title “comes out stronger, more united and with a a better future even more than what I already had until now.
Forks important that the Organization of Heritage Cities has “that force“, underlined Bellido, because, “among the conclusions that we have all reached”, there is a “major“. And, he explained, “we want our voice to be heard louder“. “We want there to be legislative frameworks international, national or regional which allow us to apply the policies which we have reflected on here [para desarrollarlas en estas urbes]“, he added.
It is that the institutions develop “legal frameworks taking into account cities and that’s why we have organizations like these so that there is a first level dialogue.
The conclusions, he continued, are devoted to aspects such as “urban regeneration, mobility wave sustainability“. In the first area, he emphasized, “we have thought about how we can build more housing in our historic centers or how we can limit tourist accommodation, so that they do not evict not the neighbors, but by maintaining tourism as an element of economic development in our communities.”
In this congress, Bellido indicated: “we also talked about how to make our municipalities more resilient to climate change and above all how to cool our cities. And, he stressed, Córdoba has “obviously important experience” to transmit to the Organization. And on the forum, we saw examples like that of Krakow, which is “planting trees in the historic center”.
Bellido highlighted the importance of “exchange of experiences” between cities as a tool for urban management.
And World Heritage Cities, continued Bellido, must also reflect in this area on “the materials used In our historic centers to avoid this “heat island” effect. Something that will also be worked on in the new PGOM, the new city planning bible.
Bellido said cities must grow “strategies” of which all citizens feel involved. The tool is made up of the management plans that UNESCO requires after world heritage titles – that of Cordoba is currently being developed. and the mayors also took office to themselves: “We have to look at the long term even if this sometimes involves taking measures that have an electoral cost. We must move beyond short-term electoral debates.
The conclusions will be collected in the ‘Cordoba Declaration‘. This will be “the road map” for all heritage towns for the years to come, to “manage our towns”. And the “exchange of experiences” between cities is also fundamental in this management. “We should not invent something new, but see what they are already doing well in many cities, in Rhodes, Dubrovnik or Quebec.”
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