World Heritage Seminar: “The Soft Edges of World Heritage: Buffer Zone and Wider Setting”
Since 2018, the Japan Center in Conservation has been hosting the World Heritage Seminar, which aims to transmit information and facilitate exchange of opinions about the world heritage system. In FY 2024 the seminar, titled as “The Soft Edges of World Heritage: Buffer Zone and Wider Setting,” focused on the periphery set up around the property to provide its adequate protection. There were 84 participants, mainly representatives from local governments all over the country at the meeting, held on November 25, 2024, at the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN).
After the introduction provided by Mr. KANAI Ken, Head of the Resource and Systems Research Section of the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation, who explained the purpose of the seminar, Mr. SUZUKI Chihei (Agency for Cultural Affairs) made a report under the title of “Trends on World Heritage,” on the discussions held and decisions made at the 46th World Heritage Committee meeting held in New Delhi in July, 2024. Then, Mr. MATSUDA Akira (University of Tokyo) and Mr. MATSUURA Kazunosuke, Associate Fellow of the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation then each gave lectures, titled “The Spread of the Concept of Heritage on the Periphery of World Heritage Sites” and “The Buffer Zone and Wider Setting in Italy: Spread of Heritage Value Based on the Landscape Protection,” respectively. Next, Mr. SATO Yoshihiro (University of Iwate), Mr. KIDO Masayuki (Shiga Prefecture) and Mr. SHODA Michihiko (Fukuoka Prefecture) presented case reports titled, respectively, “The Buffer Zone and Wider Setting in Hiraizumi,” “The Buffer Zone and Wider Setting as Inscription of Hikone Castle on the World Heritage, List” and “The Notion of Wider Setting in HIA: from a Case Study of Munakata-Okinoshima and a Lecture of WHSMF.” Thereafter, all speakers discussed the desirable situation of Outstanding Universal Value, an institutional question in Japan to support the World heritage protection and the future of the World heritage system.
Through these lectures, case reports, and discussion, it was clarified that the wider setting introduced recently by UNESCO, though it is difficult to define, could be approached from both material and immaterial aspects, and recognized by a framework that combines protection and valorization. Moreover, we could reaffirm the huge difficulty in managing the periphery of World heritage sites under the current Japanese legislative system. TOBUNKEN will continue to conduct research on the international heritage protection system, including the theme that emerged from the seminar.