The Asia-Pacific Region Training on HUL was held at WHITRAP Shanghai between 14-17December 2015. Within the framework of the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, this course aimed to reflect on the “what, why, and how”of the HUL approach, along with the latest developments in the field, as well as was pursued to strength and enlarge the specialist network for HUL in the Asia-Pacific Region.

During the four-day training programme, practitioners and specialists participated in lectures, a field visit to Tongli Town and a round table of discussion on the challenges and impacts of the HUL approach. These activities were led by Chinese, regional, and international experts in the field. Among others, Zhou Jian (Director of WHITRAP-Shanghai and Professor of Urban Planning at Tongji University), Francesco Bandarin (UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture), Shao Yong (Executive Director of WHITRAP-Shanghai and Professor of Urban Planning at Tongji University), Han Feng (Director of Department of Landscape Architecture, Tongji University), Ken Taylor (Adjunct Professor at Australian National University), Cristina Iamandi (Conservation Architect and Urban Planning Consultant), Ana Pereira Roders (Assistant Professor at Eindhoven University of Technology), Susan Fayad (Coordinator Heritage Strategy for the City of Ballarat, Australia), Giulio Verdini (Co-Director of Research Institute of Urbanisation of Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University) and Harry Den Hartog (Professor at Tongji University), who presented the HUL approach and its tool Kit implementation.