On November 30, 2021, the second part of the International Scientific and Practical Online Conference “World Heritage Sites: Sustainable Development Practices for Urban Heritage” (Kyiv, 2020) was held on the platform of the Media Center of the Directorate-General for Rendering Services to Diplomatic Missions.

The organizers of the event are the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine and the National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”.

The Conference was opened with welcome addresses by Kateryna Chuyeva, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine for European Integration, Tetiana Izhevska, Ukrainian diplomat, Ambassador-at-Large of the Secretariat of the National Commission for UNESCO, and Oleksandr Rudnyk, acting Director General of the National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”.

The opening ceremony was followed by the presentation of the takeaways of the 2020 Conference. Further, Jyoti Hosagrahar, Deputy Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, delivered a keynote lecture “Implementing the HUL Recommendation – Reflections on the 10th Anniversary of the Recommendation”.

The official part of the online Conference was completed by the presentation of the context of Kyiv by Oleksandr Nykoriak, the Director of the Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Kyiv City State Administration.

Next, the Agenda included plenary sessions on the thematic areas “Historic Urban Environment”, “Prosperity and Livelihoods”, “Knowledge and skills”, “Inclusion and Participation”, “Peace and Security”.

During the online conference, national and international experts exchanged scientific knowledge and practical experiences on the main challenges and resources of urban heritage, its contribution to sustainable development, and the capacity of World Heritage site managers to promote prosperity, liveability and peace in historic cities.

Other results include raising awareness about the role of culture and cultural heritage in achieving sustainable development among of World Heritage site managers in Europe, their teams and networks, as well as identifying factors that hinder the full potential of cultural contribution to economic, social and environmental sustainable development.

Site managers of World Heritage sites within the European Region and the Eastern Partnership countries, representatives of national and local authorities, international heritage experts, non-governmental and public organizations joined the Conference online and in praesentia.

In total, the conference brought together attendees from more than 50 countries of the world.

On December 1, 2021, based on the results of the Conference, the event was continued with a workshop for Ukrainian experts.