Assessment of buffer zones in a world heritage site: methodes and opportunities in development of architectural heritage

Paper presented at International conference on traditional Tibetan architecture and murals conservation. From year to year, the nimber of historical areas designated as World Heritage Sites is increasing. The result is not only, that monuments and outstanding phenomenon's are due to restrictions and monitoring by special guidelines. In addition, the surroundings are profoundly influenced by the nomination, which in turn transform its own setting. The following deliberations will introduce inventories termed InterSAVE and SUIT as two practical approaches, which complement each other in assessing developing historical areas as buffer zones. Finally, I will point to the Principles for the Conservation of Heritage Sites in China, as exceptional carefully composed guidelines. The purpose of the first approach is to establish an assessment of the existing building culture in a given site, while the second assessment seeks to establish a systematic anticipatory approach to future plans, programmes and projects in an area. The relation of these two approaches to the referred Principles will be the issue of my deliberations, which take the procedure and survey shown in The Lhasa Atlas as a background. In other words, my case study will be a book.