Our lab has been collaborating with Department of World Heritage in Luang Prabang (DPL) to integrate Information Communication Technologies (ICT) into the management of World Heritage Site since late 2003.
Two aims are highlighted:
1) To promote sustainable development and management of World Heritage Site
2) To educate the local community with the importance of preservation of Luang Prabang as World Heritage Site through the introduction and implementation of ICT.
Summary of Our Project
Phase 1: 2005 – 2007 Sustainable Development and Management of World Heritage Site
In recent years UNESCO had been promoting sustainable development as part of the cultural heritage protection policy specified for the world cultural sites. In several parts of Europe, “Integrated Conservation” is becoming the main current in the management of World Heritage Sites. This approach aims to promote sustainable development by motivating the main stakeholders (central government, local government, local industry, entrepreneurs and professionals like lawyers, architect, engineer, etc) to participate cultural heritage region development in their district. Such participation should be centered in the community at each and every level, from execution, evaluation, and improvement of the development process. In this research, the “Integrated Conservation approach is analyzed from many viewpoints, and it aims to clarify how this approach could become a method to promote sustainable development in an area specified under the world cultural heritage protection. In particular, it intends to verify such results mainly using case studies of an investigation conducted locally in the Asian region.
Phase 2: 2009 – 2011 GIS Development in World Heritage Sites in Developing Countries, Preventing from becoming “Heritage in Danger”: Case of Luang Prabang, Lao PDR.
In a UNESCO survey conducted in Dec 2007 “Reactive Monitoring Mission to the Town of Luang Prabang World Heritage Property, Lao PDR”, without any protection policy, Luang Prabang might be enlisted as heritage in danger due to increasing illegal construction in the heritage area. There is a regulation in heritage preservation, but the current management system is not capable to conduct an effective analysis. Therefore implementing GIS which was considered too difficult for local government is considered as an effective method for effective analysis. In this research, application for sustainable World Heritage development with implementing GIS is investigated.
Fieldwork Reports
- Okumura: The first fieldwork (September 5, 2010 ~ October 2)
- Yokoi: The first fieldwork (August 16, 2011 ~ September 2)
Workshop Slides
- Worldshop slides on the introduction of virtual reality panorama (March 2012)
- Analysis of the landscape changes in the six core villages of the heritage site using GIS (August 2017)
Phase 3: 2013 – 2015 Case Study on Sustainable ICT Application for the World Heritage Site in the least Developed Country
In order to further promote the use of ICT in world heritage site management, several activities were conducted, including 1) development of virtual reality (VR) panorama street view, 2) introduction of cloud-based knowledge management system, 3) revision and update of authorization database, 4) introduction of mobile learning application, 5) pond and wetland analysis using GIS, and 6) application of drone for riverbank monitoring activities.
Fieldwork Reports
- Fieldwork on mobile learning activities (February 28, 2012 ~ April 7)
- Fieldwork on the introduction of virtual reality panorama (February 29, 2012 ~ March 27)
- Fieldwork on the introduction of virtual reality panorama (September 16, 2012 ~ November 28)
- Fieldwork on mobile learning activities (December 14, 2012 ~ December 26)
- Fieldwork on the introduction of virtual reality panorama (March 9, 2013 ~ March 23)
- Sakanashi: The first fieldwork(August 16, 2013 ~ September 22)
- Fieldwork on the development of authorization database (March 1, 2014 ~ March 30)
- Fieldwork on the development of authorization database (September 11, 2014 ~ October 24)
- Yu: The first fieldwork(September 14, 2015 ~ October 5)
- Fieldwork on drone activities (March 5, 2016 ~ April 21)
- Fieldwork on mobile learning activities (September 2016)
- Fieldwork on drone activities (March 2017)
Workshop Slides
- Workshop slides on pond and wetland analysis using GIS (March 2016)
- Workshop slides on mobile learning (September 2016)
Dissertation
- Pond and wetland analysis using GIS (March 2016)
- Application of drone for riverbank monitoring activities (March 2017)
Phase4: 2017 – Analysis of the landscape changes in the core area (ZPP-Ua) of Luang Prabang using GIS
DPL is revising Heritage Development and Preservation Master Plan (PSMV) including regulations on construction at the present which is 23 years after the World Heritage inscription. For the revision, the analysis of the landscape changes is an urgent need for DPL to reflect the result of the analysis on the revised PSMV. Besides, DPL needs to reflect the opinions on the current regulations of local residents on the next PSMV. Based on the above, Tokyo Tech team focuses only on buildings as the landscape, analyses the landscape changes in terms of the buildings using GIS, and surveys reasons behind the changes by questionnaire in collaboration with DPL staff. It aims at making the result useful to DPL for revising the current PSMV.
Fieldwork Reports
- Uemura: The first fieldwork（September 7, 2017 ~ September 29)
- Fieldwork on the analysis of the landscape changes in the core area of Luang Prabang using GIS（March 13, 2018~ May 18)<%2
