Aqueous heritage : resilient landscape in Hoi An

Abstract

There are amounts of world heritage in dangerous because of different reasons including human activities such as deforestation, pollution, mining and major public works and etc. On the other hand, gradual changes of geology, climate or environment can also be potential dangers. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is intended to increase international awareness of the threats and to encourage counteractive measures. But how to deal with the contradiction between the development of traditional material cultural heritage and environmental threats seems like the key issue that cannot be ignored. This project challenges how the natural and cultural heritages are currently evaluated and protected following the World Heritage Convention firstly adopted by UNESCO in 1972. Taking Hoi An ancient town as an example, this project thinks beyond the boundary of this protected area inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1999, re-evaluating its historical, cultural and ecological values from a dynamic oceanic optic, rather than a static terrestrial one. The existing UNESCO value systems are challenged from the following three aspects: first, it re-evacuates Hoi An’s colonial past, a trading port shaped by its linkage with the ocean rather than the land; second, recognizing Hoi An’s setting within a dynamic delta landscape, the project takes flood as an opportunity instead of a threat; third, it breaks away from the hierarchical value system applied by UNESCO,advocating a landscape-based spatial structure, a fluid and multi-layered one instead of a static concentric-ring.