Second World Urban Forum in Barcelona – Spain

from 13 to 17 September 2004

The Wold Urban Forum was organized within the UN Programme for Development of Settlements (UN-HABITAT), and made a part of the Universal Forum of Cultures, which was hosted by the City of Barcelona this year. The main objective of the Forum was promotion of communication and its influence over the development of settlements. The greatest interest of the Forum was in three central themes: cultural diversity, sustainable development and a culture of peace. 

The representatives of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments to attend the Second World Urban Forum in Barcelona – Spain were: Slobodanka LALIĆ – associate for the movable property, Orjana MUJKIĆ –associate for the heritage of architectural ensembles and cultural landscapes and Amra ŠARANČIĆ - freelancer.

The theme of this year's forum was: “Cities: Crossroads of cultures, inclusiveness and integration?” and was organized into nine dialogues subdivided into two subtitles: Partner’s dialogues that focuses on partnerships for improving urban governance and Thematic dialogues that focuses on thematic issues of concern to cities. Main Forum’s objective was to create communication between the representatives of the city administration authorities, Government’s representatives, mayors, academicians, urban planners, civil public organisations, and the citizens and to embody it into common debates and discussions on problems and possibilities of development of the cities.

The representatives of the Commission actively participated in the World Exhibition within the Forum. The Commission presented its campaign for protection of endangered heritage through 36 exhibition boards, multimedia presentation and display material. Apart from the representatives of the Commission, who were the only representatives of the Balkan region countries, the exhibitioners from Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, USA, Canada, etc. took part in the Forum as well.

Moreover, the representatives of the Commission participated in several dialogues of the Forum. At its exhibition stand, Swedish organization SIDA organized series of lectures and presentations on the problems pertaining to the cultural heritage and its rehabilitation. Among many lecturers, whose lectures we attended, we would like to put special emphasis on the lecture by Tina Wik, a member of the Commission, who, as a representative of the CHWB - the Cultural Heritage without Borders from Sweden gave presentation of their previous activities and projects, with special emphasis on the projects realized by the organization in B&H.

The most important event attended by the members of the Commission, was a dialogue: “Cultural Heritage – Urban Development Tool (Future for the Past), organized by SIDA, Sweden. The most actively to take part in the dialogue were: Inger LILIEQUIST, Director-General of the National Heritage Board of Sweden; Mounir BOUCHENAKI, Assistant Director-General for Culture – UNESCO. The dialogue was partaken in by:  Kersti BERGGEN, Architect, National Heritage Board of Sweden; Donatius KAMAMBA, Director of Antiquities Department, Tanzania; Sylvio MUTAL, International Consultant World Historic Cities, stationed in the Netherlands.

The attendance of the Commission’s representatives was important not only for presentation of their work, but also for presentation of the Commission and the heritage of B&H as a whole. By coming into contacts with the representatives of other exhibitioners, experts shared experience regarding preservation of the heritage, and especially regarding organization of activities of the Commission, as a government owned institution pertaining to the campaign for saving of the endangered heritage.