Challenges in the Research and Management of Townscape and Cultural Heritage

Urban settlement has always had a strong and complex spatial dimension. Each town or city developed its unique structure and built form, which has undergone several changes, including rapid and fundamental alterations in modern times. The result of these processes: our urban cultural heritage, its research, protection and possible uses form the core of the planned course. The participants will investigate the interaction of people and place across the medieval, early modern and modern periods. Through a series of topographical features, which were present in various forms in the majority of medieval European towns (defences; squares and streets; churches, chapels, monasteries; cemeteries; marketplaces and shops, etc.), we shall examine how the built form of settlements reflected and influenced the needs of medieval and early modern society. An equally important issue is the place, role and use of these elements of urban environment in our modern world. Participants are encouraged to contribute with examples from their own research or practical work experience.