United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Open Pedagogy Fellowship
Identifying Our Historic Urban Landscapes
Kevin Gibbons, Montgomery College (Maryland)
Mike Smith-Cairns, Langara College (BC, Canada)
2021-2022
Introduction:
You are a part of a collegewide effort to increase access to education and empower students
through "open pedagogy." Open pedagogy is a "free access" educational practice that places you
- the student - at the center of your own learning process in a more engaging, collaborative
learning environment. The ultimate purpose of this effort is to achieve greater social justice in
our community in which the work can be freely shared with the broader community. This is a
renewable assignment that is designed to enable you to become an agent of change in your
community through the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). For this work, you will integrate the disciplines of Anthropology and Geography to
achieve SDG #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. With a focus on Targets 11.4 –
Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage, 11.a –
Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, per-urban and rural
areas by strengthening national and regional development planning, 11.c – Support least
developed countries, including through financial and technical assistance, in building sustainable
and resilient buildings utilizing local materials.

Learning Objectives:
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To understand the concepts of tangible and intangible cultural heritage
To appreciate that cities are composed of complex systems, natural and human-made,
operating at all scales
To apply the concept of Historic Urban Landscapes to generate an online map of cultural
heritage landmarks in your own community

Purpose/Rationale:
This assignment asks students to identify elements and landmarks that are part of the intrinsic
cultural fabric of their own cities and communities. Students will have a better understanding of
the broader landscape the community is situated in, as well as the historical trends that have
shaped the communities we’re familiar with today. By producing and sharing maps of these
landmarks, students will begin a wider conversation about what areas, buildings, parks, or cultural
events define the character of our communities.
“The historic urban landscape is the urban area understood as the result of a historic layering of
cultural and natural values and attributes, extending beyond the notion of ‘historic centre’ or
‘ensemble’ to include the broader urban context and its geographical setting. This wider context
includes notably the site’s topography, geomorphology, hydrology and natural features, its built
environment, both historic and contemporary, its infrastructures above and below ground, its open
spaces and gardens, its land use patterns and spatial organization, perceptions, and visual
relationships, as well as all other elements of the urban structure. It also includes social and
cultural practices and values, economic processes and the intangible dimensions of heritage as
related to diversity and identity.” -UNESCO
The Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) is an approach to the management of heritage resources in
dynamic and constantly changing environments. It is based on the recognition and identification
of a layering and interconnection of natural and cultural, tangible and intangible, international and
local values present in any city. According to the HUL approach, these values should be taken as
a point of departure in the overall management and development of the city.
– The World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for Asia and the Pacific Region
(WHITRAP)

Instructions:
We are building a public space to share our own interpretations of the historic urban landscapes
that make up our cities and communities. One of the goals of HUL is to break the cycle of
preservation planning as a reactive process and instead plan for risks from socio-economic
pressures, climate change, and natural disasters. Your work will begin a community-wide
conversation about what aspects drive the decisions around what gets preserved and what gets
lost.
Part 1
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First, familiarize yourself with the concept of cultural heritage as defined by the United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO):
https://whc.unesco.org/ Be sure to understand the different between tangible cultural heritage

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(things we can touch like buildings, clothing, food, and objects) and intangible cultural
heritage (things like songs, or dances, or other traditions).
Likewise, explore the concept of the Historic Urban Landscape by exploring the following
sites and documents: http://www.historicurbanlandscape.com/ and
https://whc.unesco.org/uploads/news/documents/news-1026-1.pdf
Also explore SDG 11 in the ICOMOS cultural heritage policy guide:
https://www.icomos.org/images/DOCUMENTS/Secretariat/2021/SDG/ICOMOS_SDGs_Poli
cy_Guidance_2021.pdf

Part 2
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Select a community or city you would like to map. This can be your own neighborhood, or
your city, or even a nearby city such as Washington, D.C. You should select an area that is
large enough, and varied enough, to have a decent number of landmarks for you to map. A
community that has a ‘fabric’ rich enough to explore.
Set up your own map using Google’s My Maps function here: https://mymaps.google.com/
Using the framework of the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL), begin to lay out the cultural
and physical landmarks and areas that are integral to the cultural, social, physical, and/or
economic identity of the community.
Consider issues of social, ethnic, and economic inequity when exploring the composition of
your city. Is ‘gentrification’ present in your city? How is that defined? Are there specific
areas, neighborhoods, or cultural backgrounds whose urban landscapes are valued, preserved,
or invested in more heavily than others?
Place location pins and draw polygons (areas) on your map. Label everything. For each
object, insert a photo or video and a text description (at least 2-3 paragraphs) that explain the
importance of that location.

Part 3
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Upload your map to our shared Pressbooks site.
Write a one-page reflection of your experience mapping your community’s historic landscape.
In it, consider some of the following questions:
o Are there trends in the type of landmark you mapped?
o Are there ethnic and cultural groups living in the community that are represented by
any place or event on the map?
o What sorts of buildings or other parts of the built environment have been preserved?
o Are there areas of your community where significantly older buildings still stand?
o Explore maps uploaded by others of at least two other communities you’re familiar
with. Do you see things you’d not known about, or notice things that you would
include, if it were your map?

Format Requirements:
Maps must be publicly viewable, and all markers and polygons must have complete descriptions
with at least one image or audiovisual link.
"Cities are dynamic organisms. There is not a single ‘historic’ city in the world that has retained
its ‘original’ character: the concept is a moving target, destined to change with society itself. To
reserve the urban historic landscape, strategic and dynamic alliances need to be built between
various actors in the urban scene, foremost between public authorities that manage the city and
developers and entrepreneurs that operate in the city." -UNESCO

Identifying Our Historic Urban Landscapes is licensed by Kevin Gibbons, Montgomery
College (Maryland) and Mike Smith-Cairns, Langara College (BC, Canada) under the Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY)