UNESCO Chair TCHER at the experts annual workshop of the UNESCO UNITWIN network "Culture, Tourism and Development" in Pula, Croatia

Upon invitation of the Municipality of Pula, Croatia, the UNESCO Chair on Threats to Cultural Heritage took part in the annual workshop of the UNESCO UNITWIN network "Culture, Tourism and Development" which took place from Monday 11th to Friday 15th May 2026 in Pula, Croatia, organised by Juraj Dobrila University of Pula.

By subjecting a wide range of issues relevant to Culture, Tourism and Development to multi-disciplinary discussion and analysis, the workshop aimed to make significant contributions both internationally and domestically to the issues addressed. Based on the documentation provided to the Workshop participants, the on-site visits and inspections and a series of consultations with local, city, and regional stakeholders, the UNITWIN Network workshop’s main deliverable consisted of a report assessing, with the rigor expected of a World Heritage List evaluation, the potential of Pula (Croatia) as a future World Heritage property.

The Report is conceived as a research-stage diagnostic and not as a draft nomination. Its three tasks are precisely those set by the convenors: (a) to compile the attributes on which a claim to Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) could plausibly be based; (b) to propose a first working definition of the OUV together with the UNESCO criteria that would support it; and (c) to examine the property’s boundaries and the boundary conditions—governance, legal protection, communication, sustainability, local involvement, community services, and tourism—that determine whether such a value could be conveyed, protected and managed as one whole.