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The phenomenon of rapid urbanization and transfor­mation of existing cities has put the conservation of heritage areas in the core of urban planning agenda. However, the traditional notions of monuments, groups of buildings or city sections, identifying them as separate entities within a wider urban context, is no longer sufficient to protect the characteristics and qualities of heritage from fragmentation, degenera­tion and subtraction of significance. Therefore, there was a transformation in both concept and scale of conservation, aroused from the challenges in this field, and as a consequence, a new approach to deal with properties in territorial scale, the Historic Urban Landscape, emerged. This approach moves the con­sideration of urban areas into an ecological frame­work, and accepts a dynamic rather than static view of cultural heritage in general, and urban heritage in particular. On 10 November 2011 UNESCO’s General Conference adopted the new Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) by acclamation, the first by UNESCO regarding urban heritage since 1976 (UNESCO 1976), aiming to facilitate the integra­tion of heritage management and urban develop­ment. This Recommendation promotes a landscape-based approach, in which the existence of an inven­tory of resources and the identification of values and vulnerabilities are essential factors when drawing up urban development policies. Likewise, particular em­phasis is placed, not only on the involvement of dif­ferent disciplines but also on the role of other stakeholders and the community in heritage man­agement and consequently in urban development where relevant. The HUL concept is not limited to the physical and spatial organization of the urban terri­tory and its surroundings; it can also refer to social and cultural practices, economic processes, as well as other intangible dimensions of heritage. The HUL ap­proach is an answer to the management of historic cities under new forms of development pressure with the main goal to preserve the significance and quali­ties of the city itself. In fact, the question in HUL should be about “historic urban landscape concept and approach,” which aims at preserving the quality of the human environment. There is an important role for all actors in gaining an understanding of the HUL concept and approach, and then developing and ap­plying tools and best practices to implement this im­portant guidance. The outcomes of applying the HUL approach include continuity of historic urban identity as part of daily life, thriving social interaction and economic activity, and environmental quality in his­toric settlements of all types. The HUL approach can aid in achieving these objectives. These goals can be achieved by applying the four tools through a six steps action plan that is circular in nature. In this way, the research aims to study the significance of the HUL concept and approach, gives answer to “what HUL is about” and “how can it be used in urban heritage management,” using qualitative content analysis technique. This paper, addressing the UNESCO (2011) Recommendation, is structured as an explication em­ploying sections of the HUL text with discussions of their meaning and import. Discussions are used to ex­press the implications and diversity of applications of this important statement on the urban future.

Keywords: Historical Urban Landscape (HUL), Paradigm shift in urban conservation, Urban heritage, Landscape approach, Change management.

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