'IAIA14 Conference Proceedings' Impact Assessment for Social and Economic Development 34 th Annual Conference of the International Association for Impact Assessment 8 - 11 April 2014, Enjoy Hotel and Casino | Viña del Mar | Chile (www.iaia.org) Bridging the gap between urban development and cultural heritage protection. Authors: Guzmán, P.C., Pereira Roders, A.R., Colenbrander, B.J.F. Institutional affiliation: Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of the Built Environment 1. INTRODUCTION The 21 st century has been profiled as the urban age. Cities are, consequently, at the central focus for the achievement of a more sustainable development (UN, 1992). The 1987 Brundtland’ report defines Sustainable Development (SD) as meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs. Sustainability was based in three dimensions: economic, social and environmental. As there is a major acknowledgement of the rapid changes that the world is facing, mainly through globalization and urbanization processes, concerns on the impacts on local culture and heritage are rising (Pereira Roders and Van Oers, 2012). Culture contributes to “the better understanding of our world and its development under societal bases” (Duxbury and Jeannotte, 2010) thereby, necessary to reach (urban) sustainability. Cultural heritage, as part of the cultural domains, has been widely acknowledged for its economic potential and contribution to communities’ development (Hampton, 2005; Tweed and Southerland, 2007; Scheffler et al, 2009). There are many initiatives for monitoring sustainable urban development (SUD) reporting by means of indicators. The popularity of these tools led to its usage, beyond targets of sustainability, to compare urban management performance and competitiveness. Such approaches are including cultural aspects, and particularly heritage, within their themes of analysis. This paper analyzes 19 international reports on global challenges for urban development in order to answer what bridges are already being built, how they are built and if they succeed overcoming the gap between sustainable urban development and cultural heritage management at the global level. 2. THE SUTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE Cultural heritage, mirrored by the World Heritage List, is often found located in cities (Pendlebury et al, 2009; van Oers, 2010; Pereira Roders and van Oers 2012). The biggest challenge for urban heritage management is continuity and compatibility, as the historic setting needs to keep changing in form and function (Bandarin et al, 2010, Bandarin and Van Oers, 2012). Research reveals that World Heritage properties are mainly being threatened by aggressive development and management deficiencies (ICOMOS, 2005; Turner et al, 2011). Urban heritage management is evolving into a landscape-based approach, encompassing notions of intangible attributes and its setting. This is accompanied by a greater consideration of wide social and economic processes so as to facilitate the SD of historic districts (Avrami et al, 2000, p. 11; Jokilehto, 2007; Palmer, 2008, Bandarin and van Oers, 2012). This approach has been strongly supported by UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (UNESCO, 2011). However, the integration between cultural heritage management and sustainable urban development is far from being a common practice and has been raising the attention of interdisciplinary academics worldwide (Evans, 2005; Palmer, 2008; Gucic, 2009; Pereira Roders and van Oers, 2012).