Mandate of TMS

His Highness' Speech at the TMS Meeting at Baltit Fort, 25.9.96

UPDATE

First of all I would like to tell the Town Management Society, how happy I am to be able to meet with you on this really unique day when, for the first time, I am able to visit the restored Fort of Baltit. I would want to take this occasion to congratulate all those who have been associated with the restoration for the really wonderful work that they have put in to make this a successful restoration. 

There are two ways of working, one with one's head only, and the other is to work with one's head and one's heart. I have to tell you that I sensed today that all team members who worked on this project have worked with their head and their heart, and I really would like to tell you how grateful I am, how happy I am.

I would like to take this occasion to illustrate to you why I think this is such an important initiative. The history of the peoples of the Northern Areas is under your control: it can be eliminated and forgotten, or it can be retained and used as direction and guidance in a number of different ways for generations ahead. It was my hope that this would be the use that you would make of your own history. History has multiple ways of being part of our everyday lives, and one of them is in the historic buildings that we have. Retaining these historic buildings, giving them a purpose from one generation to another, enabling them to inform us as to what were the principles by which previous generations lived; these are all elements of the greatest importance, and I am deeply happy to see that the Fort has not only returned pride in one building, but it has returned pride in the history of the people of Hunza. This is to me a very important aspect of the work you have been doing, and I am hopeful that what has been learnt from this restoration project will become part of Hunza's society.

As you look at your old buildings, you will want to retain them and give them a modern purpose in life. Now the nature of life has changed, and Hunza has changed. There are two ways to look at change: one is to let it build up its own momentum in many different ways, but the benefit is likely to be dubious and diluted and there may be negative repercussions. The other way is try to understand and forecast the nature of change and have that Change work for you. And that is what I am hoping for, in the way you think about planning in the town of Karimabad, and other towns in the area. That is: let the processes of change occur but manage them, forecast them, make them work for you.

Now this is a new concept. A hundred years ago there was no question of large number of visitors coming to, Hunza every year. The younger generation wasn’t receiving the type of education it is receiving today. Today, there are new requirements, there are new needs, and the important thing is to create a consensus around one objective: that those processes of change should bring new quality of life to you and the future generations that live here. And the only way to do so is to try to identify what are the positive aspects of the processes of change and what are the negative aspects. Remember they very rarely come independently one of the other. They will nearly always, come together.

So while looking at the opportunities of change, be careful of the risks of change and in the work that you are doing. There are both aspects: risks and opportunities. Risk management means identifying the areas where change could be damaging to the traditional way of life, to maintaining history, to maintaining the overall atmosphere and quality of life, Opportunity is letting the change benefit. Now if you locate those, benefits in various areas of your environment, you will find that they will become beneficial to everyone. The effect may not be recognizable immediately. But in the long run they will help everybody, because more and more people will find that the planning that you have done has been beneficial to them. This means that everybody has to collaborate in turning those opportunities to the positive side and in managing the risk.

I really wanted to share this thinking with you. Please remember that previously we have discussed income enhancements through improving everyone's resources, we have discussed improving health care through a primary health care and hospitals. We have discussed the improvement of basic education, and the training of teachers. Now we are discussing the physical environment; all that is part of the same goal, which is to improve the quality of life for people in the areas in which you are living.

I have simply given you some sense of the importance of this work. What I would like to do now is to listen to you, so that you can tell me whatever problems you have and I can think about them. I may not give you answers immediately, because sometimes I like to think a little bit more also as to what are the solutions. But basically, the important thing is to manage opportunity as it comes, so that you get the benefits of the opportunity and you contain the risks of change. This is what I am hoping for.

I think that you will be setting an extraordinary example. There are not many other places on the face of the earth with societies like yours, doing such things. So it is a new initiative. And Insha’Allah, with the intellect that you have, and with the knowledge we try to support you with, we will bring to this part of the world the knowledge of our time, but at the same time protect the past and enhance the future; that is really what we are seeking.

http://www.akdn.org/Content/1180/Speech-by-His-Highness-the-Aga-Khan-at-the-UNESCO-Conference-on-Culture-and-Development-in-Hangzhou-China
Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan at the UNESCO Conference on Culture and Development in Hangzhou, China
15 May 2013

Extracts:

“I am honoured by your invitation, and pleased for this opportunity to talk about two subjects that are very close to my heart – culture and development.”

“My attention to cultural legacies was triggered, over three decades ago, when I realized that the proud architectural heritage of the Islamic world was endangered. The art forms through which great Islamic cultures had expressed their identity and their ideals were deteriorating.

The result, for huge segments of the world’s population, was a fading of cultural memory. The world was threatened by an enormous cultural disaster.

Even worse, there were few resources for addressing this situation. Architectural thinking, globally, was dominated by western industrial models. Islamic architecture itself was abandoning its heritage in the face of an all-consuming modernity.

Our response to that situation began with the creation, in 1977, of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, dedicated to the renewal of this legacy. Soon afterward came the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, and under its aegis, the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme.”

“The life of the neighbourhood has also been revitalized. Important initiatives in health, education and sanitation grew out of our quality of life assessments, and we continue to monitor quality of life indices, through baseline studies, on a regular basis.”

“For all of these journeys, the development process has been long and complex, but filled with stimulating lessons. Let me briefly summarize five of them.

First, these cultural projects depend upon an ethic of partnership. This means that traditional separations between public and private domains must be set aside. The concept of public-private partnership is an essential keystone for effective cultural development.

The role of governments, including municipalities, is fundamental in providing what we often term “an enabling environment” for development. But the public sector cannot do this work alone. A creative mix of participants is needed, corporations and development agencies, foundations and universities, individual donors, faith communities and local community groups.

I have one more comment to make about partnerships. It is absolutely essential that effective partnerships are maintained throughout the life of a project, including the post-completion period. Let me cite our own experience in support of this point. Of the 20 Historic City projects that we have undertaken, only two have failed the test of time. But in both cases what was missing was a strong partnership structure for post-project management.

This discussion leads me to a second conclusion: while cultural development often begins with physical legacies, planning must focus well beyond the cultural goals. We cannot somehow assume that a favourable social and economic impact will flow naturally as a by-product of cultural commitments. Issues relating to the quality of life must be considered from the beginning and monitored throughout the project's life.

A third point in this list of lessons learned is that the engagement of the local community from the earliest stages is imperative for success. Cultural endeavours, in particular, involve risks that go beyond external, economic factors. Their progress can depend heavily on variable qualities of human nature, including the pride and confidence of the peoples involved. In any development effort, there will be a tipping point along the way when we see the glass as half full rather than half empty. But these tipping points are more likely to tip in the right direction when attention to local confidence has become an ingrained reflex.

There is a fourth point that is also special to historic restoration projects. That is the fact that we can never be sure just what we will encounter as the work of rediscovery moves along. There are many unknowns going in, and we must be ready for surprises. I think, for example, of how little we knew, when we started, about the extent and condition of the Ayyubid Wall in Cairo, buried for 500 years or more. The Wall in fact had been so completely obscured that plans had been suggested for building a highway over it, until its remains were identified. In this case, as in so many others, the resilience and adaptability of all the partners, including the people of the local neighbourhoods, was critical.

Let me finally highlight a fifth lesson. Planning for such projects must anticipate how they will operate on a continuing basis after they are completed. In many cases, a permanent service facility will be put in place, a site museum perhaps, a scholarly centre, a children’s library, a training workshop, a clinical resource, or research facility. Financial planning must take these opportunities into account, as a set of costs to be sure, but also a potential source of revenue. Up-front investment will be on everyone’s mind at the start. But our financial strategies should include eventual income streams that will sustain the project over the long run. One of the least happy outcomes for any cultural initiative is that it becomes a net drain on the local population.”