Sustainability and Built Heritage

Our goal is to promote built heritage conservation within a sustainable development framework.

ICCROM has a long history of developing and implementing capacity building activities for midcareer professionals, focused on the conservation and management of built heritage.

The international Architectural Conservation Course (ARC) conducted from 1960 to 1998 sought to provide professionals from various disciplines with the knowledge and tools to speak to each other and develop a mutual understanding of architectural conservation.

In 1995, ICCROM prepared a new initiative to respond to broader challenges and demands in built heritage conservation – the Integrated Territorial and Urban Conservation Programme (ITUC). ITUC aimed to integrate urban conservation with urban and territorial planning systems, with a focus on landscapes or larger territories and recognizing the dynamic relationship between people and heritage.

Following the ARC and ITUC courses, ICCROM developed a new course, Conservation of Built Heritage (CBH), which combined theoretical and practical capacity building for professionals from a wide range of disciplines. The eight-week course was offered from 2007 to 2016 and covered a range of topics exploring aspects of built heritage conservation from the broader perspective of tangible and intangible heritage. The participants also reflected on contemporary issues to gain new perspectives from international experiences.

In addition, ICCROM has collaborated with other organizations to develop courses linked with built heritage, such as mural paintings, stone, and wood conservation.