The conference and workshop was held in the historical outport of Ny-Hellesund, a cultural environment in Vest-Agder that is currently in the process of being listed as national protected.
The conference that had the latest European trends within the management of European coastal cultural landscapes on the agenda. The background of the conference was that European coastal regions have a unique diversity of cultural heritage. At the same the regions face growing pressure on coastal zones following changes in the fisheries, transport sector and tourism industry. This puts vulnerable coastal cultural landscapes at risk. The conference included 8 speakers and a field visit and had a total of 39 participants from project partners, international experts and regional stakeholders.
Linde Egberts from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam moderated the first partner workshop, in which the partners were offered the chance to get acquainted with one another and start their knowledge exchange. The starting point of the workshop was the lecture given by Linde the previous day where she presented a framework for understanding the use of heritage in relation to history, tourism and regional development. The discussions focused on different heritage projects, highlighting what heritage was at stake, who was involved in the process of transforming or preserving this heritage and why this was a good example of heritage management.
The workshop included a field visit in the natural environment guided by Bjørn Vikøyr, senior advisor from the County Governor of Agder. The field visit included a tour around the island of Kapelløya at Ny-Hellesund. The area of the island is partial protected as natural environment as part of a larger areas stretching along the archipelago. At Kapelløya the protected environment borders the protected cultural environment of Ny-Hellesund. Where the cultural protection is managed by the county council, the natural protection is managed by the county governor. This causes some differences and complicates the overall management somehow.
