Heritage Conservation in Dapitan City's Journey towards becoming a Smart Heritage City
As Dapitan City embarks on its journey towards becoming a Smart Heritage City, heritage conservation plays a pivotal role in ensuring that the city's rich history and culture are preserved for future generations.
Heritage conservation is the process of protecting, maintaining, and enhancing the significance of heritage assets. In the context of Dapitan City, this includes tangible assets such as ancestral homes, historical landmarks, and cultural artifacts, as well as intangible assets such as traditions, customs, and beliefs.
Heritage conservation is particularly important for cities that are striving to become Smart Heritage Cities. A Smart Heritage City is a city that uses technology to enhance its cultural heritage, improve the quality of life for its citizens, and promote sustainable development.
Heritage conservation can help to achieve the following goals of a Smart Heritage City:
- Enhanced cultural tourism: Heritage conservation can help to attract tourists to the city, which can boost the local economy and create jobs.
- Improved quality of life: Heritage conservation can help to improve the quality of life for residents by providing them with access to green spaces, historical landmarks, and cultural attractions.
- Sustainable development: Heritage conservation can help to promote sustainable development by preserving the city's natural and cultural resources and by reducing the need for new development.
- Revisitamos 1892: This program aims to promote the city's rich history and culture by offering heritage tours and events.
- Assistance to the maintenance of the Rizal Shrine: The Rizal Shrine is one of Dapitan's most important historical landmarks. The city government provides financial assistance to help maintain the shrine and to ensure that it is accessible to visitors.
- Conducting events that will promote tourism: The city government regularly conducts events that promote tourism and showcase the city's heritage, such as the Kinabayo Festival and the Handuraw Festival.
- Support to the preservation of heritage houses: The city government provides financial and technical assistance to owners of heritage houses to help them preserve their properties.