| Abstract | Pleasantly integrated into the surrounding environment, Luang Prabang is a distinctive
cultural heritage asset, which is an excellent example for a harmonious coexistence of
Asian vernacular and colonial architecture. The listing of the city as a World Heritage Site
in 1995 confirms that Luang Prabang holds cultural heritage significance of outstanding
universal value and therefore needs to be preserved in order to transmit its particular
cultural value to future generations.
While Luang Prabang kept its integrity throughout the centuries, after the country's
opening to the outside world in 1989, this unique heritage place started to attract increasing
numbers of international tourists. As a result, the city faces the challenge to deal with
considerable pressures on the town's urban fabric. Many of them are a consequence of the
recent tourism boom. Whereas conservation and heritage management efforts have been
undertaken, especially after the site's inscription onto the World Heritage List, this living
ancient city is still threatened to lose its very authenticity and with it its original heritage
value.
Given this risk and taking into consideration the current heritage management system, this
research study is an attempt to reveal a possible future path and solutions in order to tackle
selected aspects of the problem. Through a comprehensive analysis of the physical
environment and its typical characteristic as well as through reviewing the present heritage
management organism major threats and risks affecting Luang Prabang's heritage fabric
are determined. While some of them originate from natural processes, most of them were
identified to have their roots in specific human behaviour and related activities, a lot of
them resulting from the present tourism development.
In this connection, the most significant loophole was realised within the city's conservation
scheme: Whereas previous research studies were focusing mainly on Luang Prabang's
religious heritage as well as in specific cases on particular individual heritage houses, not
much attention was paid to the overall character of the city. However, the author identified
the sense of place and a definite local feeling as the main characteristics turning Luang
Prabang into a unique place.
Simultaneously, whereas temples are typical monuments that can be found almost
everywhere in Asia, it is principally the distinctive atmosphere of Luang Prabang that
attracts tourists and therefore foreign exchange. Thus, not only from the point of view of
an urban environmental manager, but also in the interest of Luang Prabang's inhabitants
the preservation of the city's overall character is of foremost importance. Indeed, once
Luang Prabang's particular sense of place will be lost the city will lose simultaneously a
main sector of its urban economy.
Therefore and as the need for intervention is urgent, a framework of strategies is developed
that aim at safeguarding this specific quality of Luang Prabang. With respect to the current
tourism boom and the necessity for adaptation to the needs of a modem society, the author
made an attempt to provide solutions, which incorporate both: preservation goals as well as
a certain degree of freedom regarding alterations. Thus, the main focus is laid on
safeguarding the Luang Prabang's overall character, while the presented strategies
emphasise in particular the maintenance of the diverse atmospheres within the city
boundaries and the preservation of the town's continuity. In this respect, importance is
given to the overall urban pattern, which is believed to be strong enough to unify different
dissimilar urban features. |