Historic cities and sacred sites - Ismail Serageldin

A large proportion of the 100 historic cities and nearly 200 sacred sites on the World Heritage List are located in the developing world. Of key concern is how historic cities fare against the population pressures, crumbling infrastructure, and eroding economic base of the developing world. This text investigates the effects of overpopulation and poverty on historic cities and sacred sites. It demonstrates that taking care of humanity's cultural heritage can regenerate self-esteem and self-identities of disempowered peoples and revive moribund economies. Consequently, cultural heritage preservation and poverty reduction are closely related.