RIGHT behind San Sebastian Basilica, one of Manila’s most revered churches, a high-rise condominium is under construction, triggering a conflict between developers and conservationists. The unsavoury development also threatens to derail the Philippines’ bid to have the monument listed as a World Heritage Site and preserve the country’s heritage value.
In some other Asean nations, like Thailand or Cambodia, which prioritised a tourism agenda to propel economic growth, activists are fighting a losing battle against developers to preserve built heritage.
“The impact of this is the commodification of natural and cultural heritage which results in the loss of authenticity, and sometimes irreversible damage not just to nature but also culture,” said Johannes Widodo, professor at the National University of Singapore and a senior adviser to the Southeast Asian Cultural Heritage Alliance (Seacha).
But through a combination of grassroots NGOs, interest groups, and a wave of new youth thinking and lifestyle, some silver-linings have started to appear on the horizon which could shape the transformation of old and new cities in the years to come.
Not least, heritage and culture will be offered as viable solutions to climate change – a dimension that will be featured in the upcoming COP28 (the 28th conference of parties on climate change), according to Catrini Pratihari Kubontubuh, president of the Indonesian Heri-tage Trust and current chair of Seacha.
Johannes and Catrini were joined by Ivan Henares, head of the Heritage Conservation Society of Philippines and a Seacha director; and Leo Horn-Phathanothai, head of the World Resources Institute’s UK office; in a discussion with Asia News Network, along with Khoo Salma Nasution, vice president of the Penang Heritage Trust in Malaysia and also a Seacha director.
They were in Bangkok for a Seacha conference on “Cultural Wisdom for Climate Change Action: The South-East Asian Contribution” hosted by The Siam Society.
Seacha was formed with NGOs from Asean countries as an alliance to help empower voices from the ground and help Asean governments address key heritage issues through clinics, programmes, workshops and conferences.
One example of this is The Siam Society’s campaign to convince the authorities to broaden an outdated official framework for heritage, which still focuses mostly on old buildings and religious and royal architecture.
“Let’s protect everyday architecture like shophouses and farm houses as well as other vintage architecture: railway stations, civil buildings, early modern and mid-modern structures. The list goes on and on,” the Society’s president Bilaibhan Sampatsiri wrote in an op-ed piece last year.
The pressure on heritage sites, subject to bulldozing by developers for high-rise residences, hotels and other commercial structures in cities, is enormous “as we are in the urban world already”, said Leo.
With the majority of the world’s population living in cities since 2007/2008, an additional 2.45 billion people are expected to join them by 2050, 90% of whom are forecast to be in Asia and Africa.
For Henares from the Philippines, “It isn’t that we are talking about preserving heritage buildings so that we can make them into museums or freeze landscapes in the areas, but rather to use them to create vibrant communities that are economically sustainable in the sense that heritage will attract investment into these areas.”
But he lamented that developers in the Philippines are motivated by short-term profit. They don’t see the value of these heritage structures.
Malaysia’s Salam underscored the need to understand the value of historic buildings in the urban setting from the environmental, social and planning perspectives.
“Heritage buildings have enormous social, historical, cultural values. They tell stories, they support social memories in the sense of belonging. They are important to strengthen urban identity and national identity. They also create attractive focal points in the city. Just like an urban park that increases property values around it so do historic buildings,” she said.
Historic areas also often have narrower streets which are better suited for walking, cycling, public transport, and slower traffic flows. They are not suitable for highrises with many floors of car parking which draws a lot of car traffic into the city.
Historic buildings represent embodied carbon, which means conserving them is a low carbon strategy. It can be stored in a home, in a refurbished café or restaurant or a space retrofitted as a modern office or gallery or any other purpose, said Salma.
Johannes noted further that while Asean “is quite progressive in terms of making money” most member nations are way behind the scheduled targets for 2030 in implementing the SDG Goals in terms of poverty eradication, education, and especially cultural development.
(Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked objectives designed to serve as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet”.)
Leo expressed concern that although “sustainability” has seemingly made up ground in recent years, the term has been co-opted by interests that are “hell bent on continuing unsustainable practices ... in an effort to greenwash these continued activities”.
Sustainability, he said, is all about long-term thinking and planning.
“What it means on a societal level is there needs to be societal conversation about what is that desirable future we want to be striving towards – conversation which is not just informed by but enriched by cultural heritage.
“I would go further to say that culture is a medium that we should have that conversation... Culture is simply ‘How we do things here’.”
“I would go further to say that culture is a medium that we should have that conversation.... Culture to this is simply ‘How we do things here’.”
How it is done and sustainability is perhaps best demonstrated by Singapore, the richest among Asean members. Johannes highlighted Singapore’s “can do spirit”, “walk the talk” spirit, and when “we talk about sustainability, then it directly translates into “carbon neutrality”.
Singapore, by 2030, wants to achieve carbon neutrality though its green plans.
In terms of buildings, he said his office – the School of Design and Environment at the National University of Singapore – is Singapore’s first net zero-energy building. “It is not rocket science, not smart technology ... it is common sense, vernacular architecture. The design itself is based on the stilt house traditional architecture but it is translated into modern language.”
Conservation in Singapore is understood as not being about nostalgia but about carbon neutrality, he said. It is defined to have value and translate into incentives for carbon trading. This provides the possibility of greater Gross Floor Area and prevents the demolishing of old structures as in the case of the Golden Mile Complex.
“This pragmatism and ‘walk the talk’ is not just about theory and policy but about letting the industry, the entire eco-system, do something, start the change,” said Johannes.
“The government can be very bold, can be very strong, as we need strong leadership. But we also need to have a wise government that is able to listen to voices from the ground.”
Henares highlighted multiple challenges on heritage preservation that the Philippines is facing. Politics is one of them, with city mayors facing elections every three years, leaving little room for long-term thinking.
Politics may also jeopardise the new Indonesian capital Nusantara in Kalimantan. Catrini welcomed the idea that the new capital could become a forest city with the local tribal heritage dimension integrated into its design. But will Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s successor in two years’ time retain the concept?
While money is seen as important in helping to preserve heritage, as demonstrated by the stunning results achieved by the likes of Japan, France and Italy, Leo stressed that this is not to say that people and countries should go for growth first and pay for cultural heritage later.
Cultural heritage, he said, is inseparable from development and there is a premium on early action to preserve such heritage: “If you don’t prioritise it early on, there will be little of it to preserve because a lot of it would have been lost through economic development.”
Catrini and Johannes pin their hopes on the current and future generations of youth to see through the heritage agenda.
“More and more young architects have the self-confidence to bring up uniqueness in our traditional architectures,” Catrini said, whether it is related to the tropical or even earthquake environments.
The integration of philosophy and the intangible culture in modern designs would help the sustainability of cities, she stressed.
Youth empowerment to better manage heritage for the future is not just a responsibility but a sense of ownership of planet Earth, said Johannes.
He saw opportunities especially for young people and young organisations in small towns in SEA. They are social media influencers in culture, for example, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia. They organise popular activities, such a cycling with embedded cultural mapping, which can be translated into heritage management input for local governments.
Cycling and walking are also being deployed to help regenerate cities and preserve the heritage. Leo cited the work of his organisation’s involvement with the Turkish city of Istanbul on the historic peninsula to 300 pedestrianised streets in partnership with guilds, architects, local authorities, businesses, and communities.
“Today it has a traffic of about 2.5 million people walking every day on streets that were previously unwalkable, or you did so at your own risk. Today they are thriving thoroughfares for economic and cultural activities,” he said, adding that a similar project is underway in the old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk, near the Mughal-era Red Fort.
Bangkok, he said, should strive towards such an aim, shifting from car-centric to people-centric development. “Make it enjoyable, pleasant, and safe.”
Johannes shared his optimism through his belief that heritage is part of Asean’s DNA. “Like, in Thailand, if the flood comes, your answer is sanook, let’s play with water ... when tsunami destroyed Aceh in 2006, the mosques were still there, so there is a hope.”
“We don’t cling to the material world but we believe in the spiritual world ... our intangible cultural heritage is more permanent and consistent. While tangible, physical forms are semi-permanent or non-permanent. This belief makes me optimistic.”
Henares suggested the need to create greater awareness of cultural heritage in the Asean community, as “we have taken it for granted because we see it every day”.
“When we rebrand and reconfigure that it is your cultural heritage and you need to preserve it, protect it, there is a lot indigenous knowledge that can be used in combating climate change and needs to be highlighted and strengthen our heritage and this is our way of facing the challenges of tomorrow.”
Catrini said: “Heritage is really our root in the South-East and Asian countries as well. All the daily lives and all the things learnt by the ancestors about how to conserve nature, how to have a balanced and harmonious life with the environment is already there. We didn’t know the philosophy behind it. Rediscover and make better use of it for a better world.”
Leo is “hopeful rather than optimistic”.
“We have a lot to work with and have everything to play for. It is a matter of choice. We need to engage and make it happen.
“There’s a lot that Asia can bring to the table. I see communities across the region asking the same questions, engaging in the same conversation, engaging new stakeholders,” he said. – Asia News Network
Already a subscriber? Log in
Get 20% OFF The Star Digital Access
Cancel anytime. Ad-free. Unlimited access with perks.
