Preservation, management and durable heritage presentation in a city context can only be successful if the heritage is approached from a global perspective. The heritage value of monuments, landscapes and traditions then fits into the environmental planning and visions concerning city development, renewal and identity. This approach is used in our cooperation with the East Flemish town of Ronse.
Ronse is typified as a small Belgian town with a complex community at the border of Flanders and Wallonia. It has some specific heritage assets. At the centre of the town, some important elements of the earlier “Freedom” are still clearly marked though they are no longer put into context. Until the French Revolution, the “Freedom” – for so it was called – was an independent medieval feudal manor. It was so to speak a “town within the town” that was run by the clergy. Even in the traditions that are kept alive, the link with this past has been preserved. From the beginning of the 11th century, the inhabitants of Ronse walk with the shrine of Saint-Hermes in a wide turn around the city to beg for the Saint’s protection.
In a preliminary study of which the results were presented in the spring of 2007, we recommended to transform the area of the former “Freedom” into a modern heritage zone. In the course of 2008 the Ename Center worked out a so-called view-quality-plan.
The purpose of such a plan is to guide the urban planning of a district with its own particular characteristics. What makes this instrument of environmental town and country planning so unique for Ronse is that it explicitly takes the heritage resources as its main focus. Though the city council is responsible for working out this policy, it decided to establish a heritage council that offers the authorities advises in heritage matters.
The heritage council consists of volunteers coming from divers local cultural associations as well as representatives of the city council and city departments. Currently four working groups are active around the following themes: the “Freedom”, city development, Saint-Hermes and landscape elements. The heritage council is a means to secure local involvement and it creates a broad platform for the city coucil’s heritage policy.
