Vigan once was an inferior municipality with a very weak annual revenue, struggling to defray the salaries of its employees, and to provide basic services to its communities.

Nowadays, the City of Vigan presents a virtuous example of cooperation between local communities and the local government to ensure the preservation of its tangible and intangible heritage. In line with the City’s mission statement to conserve the heritage and to provide an improved quality of life, the local communities are not only primary stakeholders, but also dedicated and knowledgeable preservers of their heritage. They play an increasingly important role in the formulation of a vision and action plan for the city. With the implementation of ‘The Vigan Conservation Program as a Tool for Development’, the local government has maintained its focal position in engaging all stakeholders and guiding the local development in compliance with the conservation of a unique heritage.

Series of public hearings and participatory workshops guarantee that structural interventions, policy design, and the establishment of new institutions comply with the interest of all stakeholders. Moreover, different workshops and initiatives target capacity building for different stakeholders. The Escuela Talyer (School for Traditional Building Crafts) trains heritage house owners and artisans in maintenance of historic structures and traditional construction to maintain, repair or restore historic buildings properly. Employees of the municipality constantly participate in (inter-)national training workshops for institutional and human capacity building. Furthermore, the municipality published together with UNESCO the Heritage Homeowner’s Manual.

The city and the local community organizes, promotes, and celebrates cultural festivals to safeguard and revitalize the intangible cultural heritage. These can be ancient customs as well as new events to prevent the extinction of any traditions and to present the richness of the Vigan culture.

As one of the New 7 Wonder Cities, Vigan promotes a culturally aware citizenry and facilitates community and stakeholder engagement on different levels in various forms. This is achieved by a deeply rooted conviction that development is only feasible if heritage is considered, and that every step in improving the quality of life of the community must be based in heritage. At the same time, the crucial voice of the community upholds the city’s efforts in conservation management and social development. The commitment to heritage conservation, good governance and an informed and included community present a good practice on how the conservation of cultural heritage can function as a driver for social, economic and environmental development.

The Good Practice example of Vigan was presented in our Local Project Workshop Urban Renewal in the Historic Town Centre of Jakarta from July 17th to 19th 2017 in Jakarta, Indonesia.