China Unveils the Guidelines for the Construction of Historical and Cultural Cities and Areas Protection and Upgrading Projects (Part 3)

▲ The photo shows a view of Hongcun Village, a historical and cultural village, in Yixian County, Anhui Province. [Photo by Fang Xin/Xinhua]

3. Main Construction Contents.

3.5 Upgrading the construction of public cultural facilities.

Actively undertake the function of public cultural services and carry out cultural publicity and promotion. Fully utilize existing buildings or scientifically select new sites for construction, study, and determine the list, scale, and theme of public cultural facilities. Ensure the inheritance and display of intangible cultural heritage, meet the basic cultural life needs of the masses, and construct or utilize existing buildings to set up intangible cultural heritage exhibition halls, small museums, libraries, cultural activity centers, etc. Drive the comprehensive vitality and cultural charm of the area, fully stimulating the comprehensive benefits of the project.

(1) Construct intangible cultural heritage protection and inheritance exhibition hall.

Construct exhibition halls, inheritance halls, experience halls, archives, activity rooms, etc., related to the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage on an appropriate scale, or public open studios of intangible cultural heritage inheritors, to record, protect, inherit, and display and promote intangible cultural heritage, with emphasis on supporting the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage or national-level intangible cultural heritage.

(2) Upgrade the public cultural facilities.

Following the needs of historical and cultural display and utilization and the needs of the masses, construct necessary facilities of exhibition and education, or relevant cultural facilities such as museums, urban libraries, etc. 

3.6 Necessary dynamic monitoring and smart management.

Combine the construction of dynamic monitoring and management systems in the fields of smart transportation, smart firefighting, and smart engineering pipelines, etc., carry out digital collection, conduct dynamic monitoring and early warning of historical and cultural heritage, manage historical and cultural districts intelligently, discover and feedback problems in time, and improve the level of intelligent monitoring and management.

(1) Establish a dynamic monitoring system.

Create data modules related to the protection and management of historical and cultural areas, which may include protection management or real-time monitoring data such as protection object data, three-dimensional oblique imagery, fine modeling data, protection area data, building height control, and so on. Carry out digital information collection of historical buildings, complete surveying and mapping work, and establish digital archives. Support regions with conditions to explore the interconnection of historical building databases and City Information Modeling (CIM) platforms. Achieve dynamic, online, and real-time monitoring of various data related to historical and cultural areas and historical buildings.

(2) Achieve smart management.

Achieve intelligent integration of transportation, firefighting, and engineering pipelines within historical and cultural areas. Equip relevant facilities and equipment to improve the intelligent management level in historical and cultural areas and historical buildings, including firefighting, security, intelligent patrols, data monitoring, information feedback, and public services.

4. Project Organization and Implementation Management.

4.1 Scientific planning and deployment to ensure organization and coordination.

Project planning should fully consider resource endowment, regional characteristics, influence, and representativeness, and reasonably determine the project construction content and scale, with the overall protection and enhancement of historical and cultural cities and areas as the main goal, to promote the integration of historical and cultural protection and urban-rural high-quality development.

The local departments responsible for the protection and management of historical and cultural cities and areas where the project is located should coordinate overall planning, and organize experts in the relevant fields to conduct technical reviews of the projects to ensure rationality. 

Project manufacturers should implement their responsibilities and do a good job of organization and implementation, fill in the “Project Basic Information Form” and submit it to the local management department for record. 

4.2 Control construction procedures to ensure project quality.

During the construction process, the project should strictly adhere to relevant laws and regulations including the Law on Protection of Cultural Relics, Construction Law, etc., and carry out planning, design, land use, environmental impact assessment, construction, and other works for approval. Project construction content should not include the repair of cultural relics. Construction activities with the protection area of cultural relics should strictly control the building scale and fulfill the relevant approval procedures. Project construction should implement construction management systems and strengthen quality.

The project should fully demonstrate the procurement of funds and regulate the use of funds to realize the maximum benefits. Project manufacturers should record the entire process of project construction and present the comparative effects and changes before and after implementation.

4.3 Strengthen supervision and management to deliver comprehensive benefits. 

The local departments are responsible for the protection and management of historical and cultural cities and areas where the project is located should implement a regular inspection and management system, record the project implementation information into the archives of historical and cultural areas and historical buildings to improve the supervision and management throughout the entire project construction process, so as to avoid the damage of historical and cultural heritage. 

The project should effectively address the urgent and difficult concerns of the people while improving the protection of historical and cultural heritage as well as the living environment. Strengthen the integrated development of culture and tourism to drive the comprehensive vitality and cultural charm of the area, and stimulate the comprehensive economic and social benefits.

Source: <https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202402/content_6933895.htm>

Edited and Translated by Guo Xinxin