Setting the scene: the protection and management of cultural World Heritage properties in a national context

This paper examines issues concerning the protection and management of World Cultural Heritage properties in five countries (China, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States) which formed part of a research network funded by the United Kingdom’s Arts and Humanities Research Council during 2013–2015. The themes examined in this context include: legal and administrative measures for protection (including recommendations and guidelines of international organisations), other protection mechanisms (planning policy and regulations), management systems and their efficiency at protecting cultural world heritage properties in ‘the day to day’ administration (tourism, financial resources and sustainable development), as well as unusual situations (development, risk and disaster), and the role of management bodies and representatives, capacity building and monitoring of the properties (practical experiences). These issues are broadly examined from questionnaires responses from the five countries through this paper and set the scene for the development of the themes of the international conference on ‘World Heritage Sites in a National Context: The Implementation of the 1972 UNESCO Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage’ held at the University of Kent, Canterbury 15–16 January 2015, which are examined in the other papers included in this issue.