Habitat Norway is a Norwegian non governmental organisation with the overall aim to promote the interest and awareness of settlement issues around the world. The organisation was established in order to put settlement issues on the Norwegian Development Policy Agenda. Habitat Norway is a member of the Habitat International Coalition.
The organisation was founded in 1988 as a result of the activities carried out during the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless. The organisation is attached to the Norwegian Branch of International Federation of Housing and Planning, and is open to all professionals; it has members representing many different disciplines such as architecture, engineering, sociology, human geography, and social anthropology. The activities consist mainly of lectures and seminars, sometimes in cooperation with other organisations. Habitat Norway arranges a seminar in October each year in celebration of the World Habitat Day.
-The role of cultural heritage in poor urban settlements
For the ninth year in a row The World Habitat Day will be arranged in Oslo on October 5th. The focus for the conference in Oslo will be the cultural heritage dimension in slum development. The conference is a joint venture between The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, Habitat Norway, The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development
Time: 5 October 2009 9 pm – 5 pm
Place: Red Cross, Hausmannsgate 7, Oslo, Norway
Over one billion people live in city slums around the world, areas that are associated with poverty. But poor urban areas are also sites of a rich cultural diversity embedded in different cultural, social and political identities. Urban slumdwelles may also develop a sense of place and should have rights to a cultural heritage.
But what is this heritage? How is it constructed, and how can it be a positive force in urban development? How can culture and cultural heritage be an asset for people living in slums, and what are the challenges? How can cultural heritage be reflected in planning for sustainable cities?
These are some of the issues that will be discussed in this conference, which also marks the international World Habitat Day focusing on urban settlement issues in the global South.
Entrance is free, but registration is required. Please register before the 1st of October to .
PROGRAMME :
MODERATOR: Odd Are Berkaak, University of Oslo (UiO).
Time
Speaker
09.00
09.15
Welcome: Habitat/NIKU/UD/KRD
UN Habitat
09.20
Opening Speech: Odd Are Berkaak
What do we mean by (intangible) cultural heritage, and how can it be relevant for slum development?
09.35
Carsten Paludan Müller (NIKU)
Interaction between tangible and intangible cultural heritage. - The European perspective and its limits.
09.50
Kersti Berggren
(Swedish National Heritage Board)
Intangible Heritage in a Development perspective
10.20
Break
10.35
Judy Baker, representative from the World Bank
Theme: WB’s experiences working with cultural heritage and development within the existing international framework . Title of speech to be confirmed
11.05
Sheela Patel
founding director of SPARC (India) and Chair of the board of Slum Dwellers International (SDI)
International actors’ work seen from the grassroots – a critical response to the World Bank
11.25
discussion
11.45
Lunch
12.30
Tom Angotti
Hunter College/CUNY
.
Community-based planning and the global growth machine
13.10
Lynsey Hanley
Walls in the head: Social class and the psychological landscape
13.50
Break
14.10
Jane Samuels
The Conscience of Cultural Heritage: Creating futures Worth Living
14.50
Sheela Patel (SDI)
Theme: Culture, identity and slum areas. opportunities and challenges seen from slum dwellers’ perspective (Title of speech to be confirmed)
15.30
Discussion
15.45
Break
16.00
Panel debate:
Tom Angotti
Sheela Patel
Judy Baker
Dag Jørund Lønning (Nordland Research Institute)
What challenges does a focus on the role of cultural heritage pose for international development actors? How can cultural heritage be a positive force in urban development, and what are the challenges of focusing on these issues in contexts of ethnic, religious, cultural and political diversity?
