MAR_4703The city of Cochin and the city of Lorient have entered into a Bilateral Agreement during Emerging Kerala 2012, hosted by the Government of Kerala. Ever since both the cities have been working together to formulate methodologies to take this joint projet forward.

As a part of this Joint Cooperation Programme a Technical Workshop was organized by c-hed which was attended by delegates from L’orient city, Cochin city, representatives of UNESCO and IHCN-F, policy makers, experts and key stakeholders of the city, from April 17th to 19th, 2013 at Bolgatty Palace, Cochin. This preparatory workshop that focused on exchanging good practices in Development, Tourism and Urban Heritage, deliberated upon the the activities, priorities and distribution of task between both the cities. The following points were agreed upon by both the port cities during workshop :

(1) UNESCO assisted Fort Cochin-Mattancherry revitalization Programme – The Pilot study done by UNESCO will be replicated to the entire Fort Cochin-Mattancherry Historic Zone.

(2) To prepare DPR for setting up two  Museums – (i) Spice Museum at Mattancherry and (ii) Cultural & Historical Museum at Bastion Bungalow, Fort Cochin, giving emphasis on Maritime Trade and Relations.

(3) Improvement of Public Space in the Historic District including adaptive reuse. Sociocultural and Livelihood, Habitat and other such aspects are also taken into consideration.

(4) Development of the public transport with emphasis on water transport.

(5) Integrated Conservation Proposal for Ernakulam Central Heritage Zone.

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