Measures to change inhabitant’s opinion about architecture
Since 1983 the concunil has decided to take some measures to change inhabitant’s oipinion as ragerds typical architecture of the town. It is a long and hard work. You can see here some measures :
1983 : Participation in the 1st international symposium of reconstructed cities in Brest.
1986 : Analysis of concretes and publishing of concrete construction recommendations by the technical research centre for construction and civil engineering (“C.E.B.T.P.”).
1989 : Publishing of a guide entitled “Architectures au Havre” in French and in English. This guide was distributed in a large number of European schools of architecture.
1992 : Participation in London in the exhibition and symposium of the English branch of the “DO.CO.MO.MO.” (international association for documentation and the preservation of the architecture and buildings of the modern movement), a non-governmental association bringing together over 40 countries.
The exhibition was later presented in Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Dessau. The City of Le Havre is a member of this association.
1993 : Participation in the 2nd international symposium of reconstructed cities in Lorient, where the international club of reconstructed cities was founded, with Le Havre a founding member.
1994 : Presentation of Le Havre’s reconstruction in Tel-Aviv at the World Conference on “international style architecture.”
1995 : Publishing of the guide “Le Havre-Auguste Perret-Le centre reconstruit”, itinéraires du patrimoine collection, by the Upper Normandy Regional Department of Cultural Affairs.
1996 : International technical symposium of the I.C.O.M.O.S. (International council for the preservation of monuments and sites) focusing on the theme “Concrete and the heritage.”
This reputation also finds expression through the developing of a specific form of cultural tourism: visits by a large number of schools of architecture and other university institutes: Ecole Nationale des Arts et Métiers (national school of engineering and technology), Research Centre for Contemporary Art History (Paris I Sorbonne), Oxford School of Architecture, Venice and Geneva University Institutes of Architecture, city delegations (Amiens, Rotterdam…), Guides du Patrimoine, etc.
And finally, maybe the post signifacant thing… In Juli 2005, the UNESCO listed the centre of Le Havre rebuilt on the World Heritage. This event had been showed on TV news. I think it was what inhabitants were waiting to rediscover their town. For the first time their town was interesting and a lot of people have begun to interest to Le Havre as a cultural town. No doubt that this measure, which is a marketing measure too, was the most successful
