World Cultural Heritage Management Toolkit: Heritage Impact Assessment. Features and Prospects for Use in Russia

Abstract

This study focuses on Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA), which is one of the elements of the World Heritage protection system and aimed at maintaining the Outstanding Universal Value. Due to the absence in the domestic scientific literature of works devoted to a generalizing understanding of the goals and objectives of Impact Assessment in the system of cultural heritage protection, the author focuses on revealing the content side of the concept of Impact Assessment, examines the process and reasons for the introduction of HIA as an independent tool for planning, managing changes and achieving public consent, identifies and analyzes the key principles for its implementation. Based on a consistent analysis of the provisions of international and domestic normative and methodological documents, as well as the practice of the Heritage Impact Assessment, conclusions are drawn about the aspects of the interpretation of the content, problems and prospects for using this tool for managing World Heritage in Russia. Attention is paid to the relevance and importance of Impact Assessments for the conservation of the Outstanding Universal Value of urban World Heritage sites and properties located in the urban environment. As a result of the study, the author formulated recommendations aimed at improving the effectiveness of the HIA and its full integration into the national heritage protection system.