New ICOMOS France electronic publication

Colloque du Havre: Villes symboles du XXe siècle


Brasilia, Chandigarh, Le Havre, Tel Aviv: four different interpretations of 20th century's architectural and urban modernity. Three of those four cities are inscribed on the UNESCO world heritage list, Chandigarh is applying to be inscribed.

Their outstanding modern architectural heritage is a reference to the whole world. To balance the protection and the valorization of the most prestigious buildings with nowadays urban life remains a permanent question.

Le Havre city presents the publication of the international symposium, which took place on September 13th-14th 2008, to examine the main steps of those important heritage sites and to compare the solutions chosen to bring together heritage enhancement and present's necessities. This symposium gathered numerous specialists regarding architectural and urban history, urban policies coordinators, and actors, elected and professionals, of today's urban projects.
(Source: ICOMOS France website)

Download proceedings at the bottom of the page (PDF, 4 MB)

Conserving architecture: Planned conservation of XX Century Architectural Heritage

Conservare l'architettura: Conservazione programmata per il patrimonio architettonico del XX secolo. A cura di Andrea Canziani


The Planned Conservation is the ability to see the Cultural Heritage over time and to govern its transformations. Knowledge, prevention, control, operations planning, replace the idea of restoration as a defensive action aimed to prevent any changes with the idea of conservation as a co-evolution between humans and heritage.

The practice of preventive and planned conservation are presented as a strategic move to preserve the architectural heritage of the twentieth century. Modern heritage is particularly vulnerable to risks of accelerated deterioration due to material, formal and technological characteristics. Control and cure, indeed, are the most effective defense of its authenticity.

The essays in this volume present ideas, researches and international cases related to the conservation of buildings and sites of modernity. It outlines a framework that reveals different cultural contexts of protection and unpublished lines of continuity and consistency.
Reflections on the legal and regulatory frameworks, on social and cultural impacts, on sustainability and economic efficiency, on the role of knowledge, diagnostics and monitoring, highlight the potential related to the transition from restoration as an exceptional occurrence to conservation as knowledge and constant care.

The volume contains also the contributions presented in October 2009 at the International Conference “Planned Conservation of XXth Century Architectural Heritage” promoted by the Municipality of Como within the CARIPLO Foundation’s project "Spreading innovative methodologies for Planned Conservation of historic architectural heritage”.
The conference was conducted with the support of:
DOCOMOMO Italy - Italian Association for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neigbourhoods of the Modern Movement -
UNESCO Chair on Preventive Conservation Maintenance and Monitoring of Monuments and Sites. POLITECNICO DI MILANO - Department of Building & Environment Science & Technology


Andrea Canziani, PhD architect, specialist in Restoration of Monuments, professor of Architectural Restoration at the Politecnico di Milano Faculty of Architecture and Society.
Concerned with issues of conservation of cultural heritage with specific attention to the twentieth century and the relationship between architecture, landscape and cultural and social development.
Is a member of DOCOMOMO International-International Committee for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neigbourhoods of the Modern Movement-and Secretary General of DOCOMOMO Italy.
Website: http://www.plannedconservationcomo2009.com/

Patrimonio del Siglo 20 - Movimiento Moderno: Publicaciones online

Publicaciones disponibles:

- El patrimonio del movimiento moderno : pensamientos, reflexiones, aprendizajes. Editado por Stella Maris Casal [Download]

- El patrimonio arquitectónico rehabilitado del siglo 20 en Buenos Aires: el patrimonio moderno. Documentos de Trabajo N° 229, Universidad de Belgrano. (Texts in Spanish and English)
[http://www.ub.edu.ar/investigaciones/dt_nuevos/229_casal.pdf](Enlace disponible proximamente)

Moscow Heritage at Crisis Point - updated edition available online

Moscow Heritage at Crisis Point - Updated, expanded edition



The report is a follow up to the 2007 report, which brought the crisis that Moscow’s heritage is undergoing into the centre of national and international attention. Despite the successes of the report, the destruction continues. The scale of the threat is such that a new edition of the report was considered necessary.

The new report details the changes of the last two years – what new losses the city has suffered, which buildings are under continuing or new threat, why this is happening, and also outlines the path for a more sustainable future for the city.

This new report from SAVE Europe’s Heritage and the Moscow Architectural Preservation Society (MAPS), with support from Do.Co.Mo.Mo International, condemns the losses while illustrating the astonishing range of historic building in Moscow, from medieval churches to elegant post-war modernism – all threatened by the furious pace of redevelopment of the city by a coterie of property developers during the tenure of Mayor Yury Luzhkov.

Download the publication