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The 18th World Conference 2022

Venue Andong (Republic of Korea)
Date November 14-16, 2022
Theme Future-Oriented Historical City Based on Community

Number of participating cities: 42 Cities from 20 Countries and Regions

Member cities

  • Ardabil (Iran), Alba Iulia (Romania), Andong (South Korea), Bad Ischl (Austria), Ballarat (Australia), Budapest (Hungary), Buyeo (South Korea), Cusco (Peru), Dujiangyan (China), Gongju (South Korea), Gyeongju (South Korea), Himeji (Japan), Isfahan (Iran), Istanbul (Turkey), Kamakura (Japan), Kashan (Iran), Kazan (Russia), Konya (Turkey), Krakow (Poland), Kyoto (Japan), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Masouleh (Iran), Masuda (Japan), Montreal (Canada), Osmangazi (Turkey), Riga (Latvia), Semnan (Iran), Shiraz (Iran), Shusha (Azerbaijan), Suwon (South Korea), Tehran (Iran), Veliko Tarnovo (Bulgaria), Xi'an (China), Yangon (Myanmar)

Non member cities from abroad

  • Colinth (Greece), Daegue (South Korea), Ichon (South Korea), Jinan (China), Jongno-Seoul (South Korea), Kampala (Uganda), Mashhad (Iran), Takayama (Japan)

Andong Declaration on Future-Oriented Historical City Based on Community

We, the mayors, political leaders and experts in the field of preserving the heritage of cities all over the world, have gathered at the 18th World Conference of Historical Cities hosted by the City of Andong, Korea, endorse the following:


1. Combine digital technology with tangible heritage, intangible heritage, documentary heritage, spiritual culture, and living culture to revitalize the local community for creating future historical cities.
2. Recalling that a historical city is a foundation that shows cultural diversity and influence of humankind, search the development direction that can ensure sustainability in heritage, industry, life, and ecological environment to enable the local community to survive as the matrix of the historical city’s future as well as to contribute to creating decarbonized society and achieving SDGs.
3. Make efforts for the sustainable preservation and utilization of cultural heritage to make a historical city a place for all residents in such a manner that the community culture can be preserved and reborn.
4. Develop programs that will improve the locals’ quality of life and raise their awareness of the historical culture to ensure the preservation of the historical city and tourism resources and develop a mutually beneficial relationship that helps them beyond conflicting relationships.
5. Explore the administrative, legal, and technological means and multifaceted ways to avoid conflicts between stakeholders by which the properties of the historical city can be reproduced in a new shape. At the same time, the community life of local community members is maintained.
6. Expand education and training programs, and secure community facilities and spaces in which the values of local memoirs, history, life, culture, and digital technologies are combined to make a historical city the place where young people who will become the protagonists of future generations can empathize with and establish a foundation for their lives.
7. Agreeing that future historical cities should be formed around sustainable local communities, regenerate and activate the local communities through communication and mutual understanding. Moreover, the regeneration and activation should evolve into smart historical cities through digital technologies and transformation in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.


Therefore, we hereby pledge to share each other’s experiences and practices through information exchange and networks so that historical cities can be regenerated around the local communities where everyone wants to live in and visit in the future.


Andong, the capital of Korean Spirit, November 16, 2022

Members can view the details from the member page.

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