A committee voted to strip the city in northwest England of its status because of concerns about redevelopment, most notably on its waterfront.
LONDON — Liverpool was removed on Wednesday from the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites after being granted the title 17 years ago, because of concerns about developments in the city, most significantly on its famous waterfront.
The decision was made in Fuzhou, China, after a secret ballot by the UNESCO committee, which voted in favor of a recommendation made in June to strip Liverpool of its heritage status.
A report published in June by the committee expressed “deep regret” and said that developments in the city and on its waterfront had “resulted in serious deterioration and irreversible loss of attributes,” as well as a “significant loss to its authenticity and integrity.”
Liverpool gained its World Heritage status in 2004, in recognition of its mercantile and maritime history, reflected in grand architecture. As one of the world’s major trading centers in the 18th and 19th centuries, Liverpool built much of its prosperity from the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
The heritage list is designed to recognize and preserve monuments, buildings and other sites, with member states obligated, to the greatest extent possible, to preserve them, and the decision to remove Liverpool will be a blow to the prestige of a city that has fought to revitalize itself in recent years.
Only two other sites have lost their heritage status: The Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman, in 2007, after the number of oryx dropped precipitously and the government cut the size of the sanctuary by 90 percent; and the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany, two years later, because of the construction of a bridge that cut through it.
In Liverpool’s case, concern was focused in part on concerns about a $7 billion dollar regeneration plan for its historic waterfront. The project includes luxury apartments and towering buildings, raising fears that they would endanger its skyline and architecture, leading to the city being placed on the list for World Heritage in Danger in 2012.
In a statement, the mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson, said that she was “hugely disappointed and concerned” by Wednesday’s decision.
“Our World Heritage site has never been in better condition having benefited from hundreds of millions of pounds of investment across dozens of listed buildings and the public realm,” she said. “We will be working with government to examine whether we can appeal but, whatever happens, Liverpool will always be a World Heritage city.”
"world" - Google News
July 21, 2021 at 07:12PM
https://ift.tt/3eE1TQ2
Liverpool Loses Its UNESCO World Heritage Status - The New York Times
"world" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3d80zBJ
https://ift.tt/2WkdbyX
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Liverpool Loses Its UNESCO World Heritage Status - The New York Times"
Post a Comment