Abstract
This paper highlights the transformative power of the HUL approach by exploring its innovative application in the City of Ballarat, Australia, since 2012. Part of the global pilot phase for the HUL, Ballarat is notable for its mainstreaming of HUL principles by local government. This has had diverse and impressive outcomes – heritage and culture have completely permeated the city’s work; new community engagement models are being developed and implemented; and many more partners of all kinds are buying in to a bigger vision about culture and identity than before. A broader cultural shift can be observed in Ballarat, and HUL has been an ‘energiser’ for others to try new things. Ballarat’s experience not only highlights how local government practice can be transformed; it predicts transformational change at other levels of government and for heritage practice itself.
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Notes
- 1.
The municipality of Ballarat includes urban, rural and satellite townships over a land area of 73,867 hectares (739 km2) and overall population density of 1.36 persons per hectare.
- 2.
WHITR-AP is a Category 2 Centre under the auspices of UNESCO, providing a platform for relevant UNESCO strategic programs.
- 3.
Victorian era buildings include those built between 1840 and 1901.
- 4.
For a more detailed comparison of the HUL, Burra Charter and Practice see Buckley and Fayad 2017.
- 5.
Programs in Edinburgh (http://www.ewht.org.uk/) and Zanzibar (WHITR-AP and City of Ballarat 2016) provided early inspiration for Ballarat’s practitioners, however, at the time there were no city governments formally applying the HUL in the way the Recommendation had foreshadowed.
- 6.
For example, a series of HUL-focussed conferences and workshops were only made possible through partnerships, the City of Ballarat providing venues and funding for catering and universities providing human resources and support for guest speakers. Other projects, such as the development of online tools, were progressed through local research partnerships rather than the more expensive (and less flexible) digital tools available on the market at the time.
- 7.
For more detail about these early steps, see Buckley et al. 2016.
- 8.
For example, ‘interoperability between Spatial and BIM – which would facilitate a viewer moving from outside to inside a building – is developing but not yet mature’ (Omnilink 2014: 23), and the capacity to solve these types of challenges through proprietary systems is tied to commercial demand.
- 9.
SMART Cities is an Australian government initiative (Australian Government 2017).
- 10.
In 2015, the tools were awarded the Victorian Spatial Excellence Award in the category ‘People and Community’.
- 11.
The Ballarat City Council consists of nine democratically elected officials from three wards, whereas the City of Ballarat consists of employed staff (council officers).
- 12.
Step 6: ‘To establish the appropriate partnerships and local management frameworks for each of the identified projects for conservation and development, as well as to develop mechanisms for the coordination of the various activities between different actors, both public and private’ (UNESCO 2011).
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Acknowledgements
The list of people who have contributed to Ballarat’s HUL pilot program is extensive. We would like to acknowledge all those involved and make special mention of Dr. Ron van Oers and colleagues (WHITR-AP); Ballarat’s council officers, councillors and local community members; researchers at Federation University Australia and Deakin University and Dr. Malcolm Borg (UNGCCP); contributing consultants; Francesco Bandarin and colleagues (UNESCO); Dr. Ana Pereira Roders (Eindhoven University of Technology); and Prof. Michael Turner (Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design).
Dr. Steven Cooke (Deakin University) has formed the third member of the continuing research collaboration between Deakin University and the City of Ballarat and has contributed to the reflections that are presented in this paper.
We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Malcolm Borg’s generosity to include his research in this chapter.
Finally, we would like to affectionately thank our fellow ‘HULigans’ who give more of themselves than anyone can imagine to operationalise the HUL approach – they’ve shared lessons and cheered on Ballarat’s efforts from all around the world – you know who you are!
Dedication
The authors would like to dedicate this paper to Dr. Ron van Oers decd. Ron is the sole reason that Ballarat was welcomed into an international pilot program where he gave freely to the city, passionate guidance and, personally, valued friendship. His influence is evident throughout all of Ballarat’s work. We know that we are not alone in hoping that we can carry on his substantial legacy into the future as we are sure he would have hoped.
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Fayad, S., Buckley, K. (2019). The Transformational Power of the HUL Approach: Lessons from Ballarat, Australia, 2012–2017. In: Pereira Roders, A., Bandarin, F. (eds) Reshaping Urban Conservation. Creativity, Heritage and the City, vol 2. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8887-2_7
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