Greenery Extraordinaire And The Power of City Branding
In the entire urban-greenery discussion today, there are only two questions, perhaps, that really matter: (a) How green is your city? (b) Why, whatever it is you’re doing to preserve and promote greenery, it is probably not enough? Like many historic cities worldwide, Kraków is undergoing a…
Cities Have Memories That Define Them: Schindler’s List and KL Plaszow
When the story of a city dates back centuries, or millennia, as is the case with some of the most iconic cradles of civilisations, it is almost inevitable that some of its most important memories will be fraught with pain, war and destruction. Humanity has…
Cities Are Full of Metaphors Reflecting Our Individual And Collective Identities
Today, 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, according to United Nations, with forecasts projecting this number will grow to 68% by 2050. So it’s clear that, despite some of the many intuitive (and perpetually annoying) disadvantages of living in a large urban centre,…
The Packaging of Public Inconvenience: Repairs, Development And City Aesthetics!
Cities usually put their construction and repairs at full throttle during the summer season. There are obvious reasons, of course: reduced car traffic and good weather conditions are only a few. For those who stay in town, as well as those who come to visit,…
A Streetcar Named … Heritage and Cultural Identity
One of the biggest ironies of appreciation, or lack of it, rather, is that if we have access to something on a daily basis, we tend to underestimate its importance, not to mention its formative impact on our lives. Too much of a good thing,…
Sekretarz Generalny OWHC o Kongresie: 2 lata pracy i 8 minut podsumowania
Dziedzictwo kulturowe miasta to jeden z tych czynników, które – choć zakorzenione w najstarszej historii, niezliczonych opowieściach i legendach – w ogromnym stopniu wpływają również na perspektywy rozwojowe i wizerunkową siłę marki miasta w skali globalnej. O ile, oczywiście, zarządza się tym zagadnieniem w sposób…
The 15th OWHC World Congress in Kraków Explained in 8 Minutes
A picture is worth a thousand words, they say. This is why it’s going to be one of the shorter posts in the (equally short) history of the Kraków Heritage Blog. To reach this stage, however, to be able to publish this 8-minute interview (having gathered…
One City and Millions of Photos…All Year Long.
The Meme Culture Do you like memes? I’m quite sure you’ve smiled, maybe even laughed uncontrollably, seeing one or two that matched your particular vein of humour. Have you come across the one with Neil Armstrong and a young woman (two separate photos juxtaposed) in front of…
The 15th World Congress in Kraków: 10 Days Later…
On June 13th, the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) published its first news update after the World Congress in Kraków (2-5 June 2019). It starts with the following words: “The 15th OWHC World Congress held in Krakow will be considered a landmark event for…
OWHC Workshops for Journalists: Cultural Heritage & City Storytelling
Are culture and cultural heritage important and attractive topics in the eyes of the media, and journalists in general? Or, maybe, also in this case, ‘important’ is something very different from ‘attractive’? Who writes about cultural heritage today, why, how and for what audiences? These…
Warsztaty Dziennikarskie OWHC: Czy “dziedzictwo” to dziś ważny i atrakcyjny medialnie temat?
Czy kultura i dziedzictwo kulturowe to dziś ważne i atrakcyjne tematy w oczach mediów i dziennikarzy? A może i tutaj “ważne” to coś zupełnie innego niż “atrakcyjne”? Kto, dlaczego, do kogo, z jakich powodów i w jaki sposób pisze dziś o dziedzictwie kulturowym i jego…
OWHC Ambassadors & Volunteers: Without Them…
Kraków’s OWHC Ambassadors and Volunteers! Without them, the upcoming 15th OWHC World Congress would be next-to-impossible. Many of its most important ambitions and objectives rely on the support of its Ambassadors and Volunteers. For Citizens Engaging local communities, fostering dialogue with other cultures representing world…