Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the 5th International Biennial Conference on "Role of Culture and Heritage in Urban Sustainability" here on Friday.
Hosting the conference for the first time, Bhubaneswar has become the 33rd member of the Indian Heritage Cities Network.
Inaugurating the conference, Naveen said cities should be vibrant with socio-cultural life centred on art, craft and heritage.
"There are several cities in India and abroad where this has been done and I am hopeful that the conference will be a platform for exchange of ideas and best practices in the field," he said.
He said more cultural sites of Odisha should come into the purview of the Unesco World Heritage Sites.
"My government is committed for taking steps towards identifying, preserving and protecting these sites through listing and documentation, preparation of tourism promotion and conservation plans," Naveen said.
The primary aim of the three-day conference is to come up with plans to safeguard and use heritage resources for sustainable urban development. Friday's session saw a discussion on Smart City and heritage where municipal commissioner Krishan Kumar highlighted what Bhubaneswar had done for attaining inclusive development.
"We have started a dedicated heritage cell with experts to take up projects such as heritage signage, no-hoarding zone in Old Town, change in the skyline of the heritage district with regular enforcement, implementation of guidelines of National Monument Authority. We are building a website keeping the tourism potential of our city in mind," Kumar said.
The major highlight of the event will be the heritage dialogue series that will take place on Saturday. It will have dialogues to understand challenges in the way of heritage issues. Historians, archaeologists, planners, developers, administrators and agencies working for conservation will take part in it.
Sources said the outcome of dialogue series is to arrive at policy-level recommendations to address the issues relevant to Odisha and also to raise awareness and be a platform for advocacy. There will also be a discussion on how the traditional communities would benefit from heritage through better participation and greater economic leverage.
