Our Cities Speak: Busan (Korea) and the Role of Civil Society in Heritage-Making
OurWorldHeritage (OWH) is an ongoing supporter of the Indian Historic Cities Series 2025, led by the Dronah Foundation together with a wide network of partners. Through this collaboration, OWH advances conversations on community participation, local ownership, and the long-term care of historic cities.
The Indian Historic Cities Series
The Historic Cities Series is a joint 3-year programme of the National Institute of Urban Affairs and the Ministry of Urban Affairs, in collaboration with partners. It is set to focused discussions on heritage assets across more than 26 Indian cities, bringing together government institutions, heritage organisations, publishers, and civil society actors.
The Series explores how historic cities can respond to contemporary urban challenges through heritage-led planning and development, and promotes more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable futures for India’s historic cities. Dronah Foundation is expected to announce the 2026 program in the coming months.
Our Cities Speak: Busan as a case for civil society participation
As part of the activities, a dedicated segment titled Our Cities Speak was developed to bring heritage debates beyond professional circles and into the public realm. Dr. Jihon Kim represented OurWorldHeritage to support the partnership, and contributed with a keynote lecture (YouTube link) focusing on civil society participation in heritagisation, using the World Heritage nomination process of Busan, South Korea, as a case study.
Drawing on Busan’s experience as the wartime capital during the Korean War—and the inclusion of the Sites of the Busan Wartime Capital on the Republic of Korea’s Tentative List since 2023—the lecture examined:
how civil society is represented in heritage-making processes, and
how heritage narratives are constructed, negotiated, and sometimes contested in World Heritage contexts.
The talk offered critical reflections on the opportunities and limitations of expert-led processes, underscoring the importance of grounding heritage narratives in lived community experience to strengthen local ownership and long-term protection.
Organisers of the Indian Historic Cities Series:
