2. How do you feel about such international heritage awards? Which of the following sum up best your attitude?
a) World Heritage status helps protect our history and it would influence my choice of where to visit.
b) It's a nice thing to have but it's not vitally important.
c) World Heritage status prevents progress and keeps communities trapped in the past.
Read the article here: Heritage Or Development Reading
3. What is your reaction to the article? If you compare the two photos (2004 and 2020), the development of the area doesn't look to be so radical. Is UNESCO being heavy-handed?
4. Liverpudlians are famous for complaining, what do you imagine their attitude is towards this loss of status? Can you imagine some of the things they are saying on social media?
5. How do you rate the article's tone on this story? Is it neutral enough? Other local media outlets have focused on the fact that the decision was made in China, or that countries such as Guatemala, Mali and Kyrgyzstan took part in the vote to decide the fate of the city’s waterfront. And that one or two countries didn't even vote. Why would they do that?
6. Does your country have its own UNESCO World Heritage sites? What impact do they have on local economies? Do they help or hinder them? Do local residents organise themselves in order to protect local buildings at all? How do they do it?
7. Where is your favourite place in terms of architectural heritage? What period of history does it reflect? Does it have a protected status?
8. Are planning laws in your country strict in terms of new developments? How much influence does money have in the decisions of whether to build or not? (Note that the current Mayor of Liverpool is under investigation for bribery in relation to property development)
9. Do you think that Liverpool's loss of status will make other UNESCO-awarded cities think twice about redevelopment?
10. Is there a city in your country that is similar to Liverpool, in terms of its location, history, and heritage?
.........
Situation
You are Joanne Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool. You are holding a press conference about the latest coronavirus statistics in the city. Attending journalists are, however, asking you questions about the city losing its UNESCO status. Explain the city's position on this issue, and inform them of what the town hall is planning to do.
..........
Discuss quotes
“As a direct result of this lack of tradition our cities and villages are becoming more and more ugly.
Every single new building manages to increase this ugliness, and every attempt to remedy the situation only underlines the ugliness more heavily.”
— Hassan Fathy
"The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history."
— Milan Kundera
"The suburb is a place where someone cuts down all the trees to build houses, and then names the streets after the trees."
--- Bill Vaughan
"Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike."
--- Alexander Hamilton
"The modernity of yesterday is the tradition of today, and the modernity of today will be tradition tomorrow."
--- Jose Andres
Student Handout PDF: Heritage Or Development
Photo: Olga Lioncat
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