Managing monuments and memories

‘But monument themselves memorials need’: George Crabbe

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Kolkata was fortunate to have as a visitor Ms Birgit Dulski on Wednesday, 20^th November thanks to our faculty Dr P.K.Das. Ms Birgit is a senior researcher in sustainable building from the Nyenrode Center for Sustainability in the Netherlands. Since 2001 she has led various projects, initiatives and research surrounding the sustainable preservation of historic and characteristic buildings. She is also involved in other research projects of the Center for Sustainability and in architectural contests where sustainability plays an important role. She combines her position at Nyenrode with a career as senior consultant at the Dutch Institute for Building Biology and Ecology (NIBE).

She gave an interesting presentation on ‘Changing Conditions for Local Architectural Heritage Management’. The presentation started with the changing scenario of the Dutch construction sector due to the European debt crisis, as a result of which all stakeholders are looking at alternative and more effective business models in order to preserve heritage sites and their sustainable renovation. Ms Birgit with the help of her team has set up a ‘Network Sustainable Architectural Heritage Management for Governmental Bodies’  which has resulted in significant changes with both private players and the government coming forward. This also shows the importance of cultural entrepreneurship and is a good lesson for counterparts in India which has a rich history when it comes to monuments.

The presentation was followed by an extensive interactive session with the students with Ms Birgit obliging the students with convincing answers and sharing her views on how she looked at the management of Indian heritage sites. It was a pleasant experience for the students with insights on cultural entrepreneurship and lessons on management and research from an experienced professional from abroad.