Creating an extensive network of historical and cultural Asian spaces with the Belt and Road Initiative

1. Asian urbanisation in context

According to the United Nations Development Report, nearly 95% of global urbanisation in the next 30 years will take place in Asia and Africa. Urbanisation in Asia has been leading the world since 1990. Although the degree of Asian urbanisation is slightly lower than the world average, it is happening at a faster rate. It is estimated that it will reach 50% in the continent by 2025. Growth in Asia will have a significant impact on urban development and the global social, economic and political landscape. Cities with millions of inhabitants and urban areas home to hundreds of millions will continue to emerge, highlighting the general trend of Asian development in the coming decades. During this period, the protection of cultural heritage in Asia will experience an unprecedented amount of strain. It is therefore crucial that countries come together to create a global partnership to conserve heritage.

What is more, climate change and environmental pollution are not only an inescapable challenge to be confronted in Asian urbanisation but also an excellent opportunity to promote international cooperation. The 2018 World Air Quality Report detailed the average annual air quality in more than 3,000 cities in the world. It was found that the WHO standard of PM 2.5 was exceeded in 64% of cities. No cities in the Middle East and Africa met the standard, while 99% of cities in South Asia, 95% in Southeast Asia and 89% in East Asia exceeded it. In response to these statistics, UNESCO called for there to be a greater focus on heritage conservation in the context of climate change and environmental pollution. This has resulted in a series of international partnerships aimed at carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. This global approach could also be applied in heritage conservation.

2. Research perspective – building a network of historic cities in Asia

There are more than 1,000 ethnic groups spread across 48 Asian countries, representing over half of the world’s ethnic groups. In contrast, there are only about 60 such groups in 48 European countries, which form the historical and cultural basis of European identity. The coexistence of different cultures in Asian countries has led to the formation of a multi-cultural society inhabiting both urban and rural spaces. Efforts to conserve heritage sites in Asian countries need to take into consideration the needs of this multiculturalism in order to adopt a theoretical system and practical approach that aligns with Asian culture.

Advances in science and technology have made it possible for modern conservation projects to analyse and study historic cities using innovative digital technology. Developments have resulted in a better understanding of the above-mentioned regional linear heritage or network-based heritage studies.

In recent years, drawing on the history of relations between ancient China and Southeast Asia, our research team has created multi-layered socio-economic and cultural networks, as well as historic city networks, in different regions and linked them to create an overall structure. This simplifies the process of gaining an understanding of the dynamic mechanisms that have developed in Asia over an extended period of time. This is an important feature in the emergence of historic urban networks in Asia. A typical example of this is the long-standing exchange that emerged between the Maritime Silk Road and the Southern Silk Road, which resulted in multiple multicultural areas on land and at sea, linking East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and West Asia.

It is key to adopt an interdisciplinary approach when studying cultural heritage conservation. By cooperating with relevant institutions and retrieving important historical documents, our team has discovered that the network of historic cities around the South China Sea was gradually built up by Chinese and Arab traders a thousand years ago, who made use of the changes in monsoons and ocean currents. Nowadays, our heritage conservation work is mainly centred around identifying these ancient trade routes and linking them to a 21st century network of historic cities. The internationally popular concept of linear heritage ought to be transformed into a networked system in alignment with the historical and cultural characteristics of the region. This will help to promote the conservation and development of historic cities. The creation of such a network centred around the South China Sea can effectively link the relevant historic cities in East, South and Southeast Asia, forming a pan-Asian, multi-layered system of cities along the Maritime Silk Road. This will unite their historical and contemporary advantages and enhance the cultural and multi-sectoral development of the Asia-Pacific region.

3. Practical case: Mrauk U, an ancient city in Myanmar, applied for World Heritage Status

Re-establishing links between historic cities in Asia and developing a network of regional socio-economic hubs will help to combine the goals of heritage conservation with those of urban development. This will enable Asian countries to intensify cooperation between different regions. For a long time, UNESCO has promoted important joint international projects in Asia by using heritage conservation to help drive regional development. The ancient city of Angkor in Cambodia is one of the most successful cases of international cooperation in heritage conservation. Over the past 30 years, more than 30 countries and international organisations have been involved in different types of conservation projects, which are closely linked to the key role played by UNESCO. In 2016, at the invitation of the Myanmar government, UNESCO put together a team of international experts to help get the ancient city of Mrauk U nominated for World Heritage Status. The Faculty of Architecture at Southeast University was asked to organise a group of experts to participate in the project, who would be responsible for the conservation, management and development planning work for the ancient city.

Located in the north-eastern part of the Bay of Bengal, the ancient city of Mrauk U was an important intersection of ancient land and sea trade routes. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Mrauk U for over a thousand years. At Mrauk U Archaeological Museum, visitors can admire many artefacts such as porcelain hailing from the Yuan dynasty, Arabic stone tablets and Persian coins, as well as Indian-style stupas and the ruins of an early mosque. These artefacts are evidence that the area was an important centre of international trade and cultural exchange between South, Southeast and East Asia during ancient times, boasting significant historical and cultural value.

UNESCO and the Burmese government are working together to nominate Mrauk U in order to promote Myanmar’s socio-economic development and peace and to conserve its important urban heritage. Besides participating in the inscription process, we also hope to undertake research on historic cities and heritage conservation. A further aim is to expand cooperation with Asian countries so that we can pursue urbanisation and heritage conservation efforts that align with Asian cultural traditions and create a system that facilitates Asian heritage conservation. This will contribute towards laying the cultural foundation for the advent of the Asian era.

4. Challenges and responses – heritage conservation in the context of urbanisation in Asia

The rapid urbanisation process, combined with the high density of Asian cities, poses challenges that cannot be ignored when it comes to heritage conservation. There are five main areas of concern :
1) Heritage conservation under the conditions of large-scale and high-density urbanisation
Asia has a large population and high urban density. Following rapid economic development, urbanisation is accelerating, which poses huge challenges for heritage site conservation.
2) Heritage conservation in the context of multiculturalism
Asia is a community made up of clusters of multi-ethnic countries. The region is not only rich in history and heritage but also in culture. This is a key feature of the cultural heritage of Asian countries.
3) Heritage conservation in the context of varying levels of regional development
The varying levels of development across regions has been and will be the norm not only in China but also in many Asian countries for a prolonged period of time. Maintaining a balance between conservation and development under varying socio-economic conditions will be a major challenge.
4) Heritage conservation in the context of climate change
Climate change is a common challenge facing humanity as a whole, but the problem is particularly acute in Asia. Heritage conservation should also help to achieve the national development goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.
5) Creating and conserving heritage sites against the backdrop of large-scale urban and rural change
In the coming decades, Asia’s cities and villages will undergo a tremendous amount of change and new heritage will be created in the hands of the next generations, which will become a valuable asset.

Strengthening international cooperation will be crucial to solving a number of existing heritage conservation challenges. The Belt and Road Initiative is enabling China to share its heritage conservation experience from the rapid and large-scale urbanisation over the past 40 years since its reform with less-developed Asian countries that also have high-density and rapid urbanisation. It will also allow it to jointly explore sustainable urbanisation paths that reflect those of other Asian countries. From this perspective, there are many areas of similarity in the urbanisation of these countries, which will help to create a solid historical, cultural and socio-economic basis for close collaboration. In view of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, we should further strengthen partnership between Asian countries, form a network of historic cities and promote Asian heritage conservation and sustainable urban development. Ultimately, this will form a key urban strategy for building a community with a shared future along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road.