• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.96-109
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• 2015

The Dresden Elbe Valley of Germany was delisted from the World Heritage List after a long dispute amongst the city of Dresden, UNESCO and the World Heritage Committee upon a plan to build a four-lane bridge within the boundaries of the property. The plan was claimed to threaten the Outstanding Universal Value of the heritage embedded in the view of the river landscape. However looking back on the necessity of the bridge in order to maintain the city dynamics and the needs of the local population, it is possible to diagnose that plans for the bridge had a rather different nature from the usual urban 'development' plans appearing in the vicinity of other World Heritage properties. This article examines the process that led to the delisting of the Elbe Valley from the World Heritage List and assesses the problems arising between the entities which determine the value of the heritage and the entities that implement conservation measures. Recognizing the necessity of involving the local residents, this article stresses the importance of the role of communities in heritage conservation. It is also important to set up dependable directions for establishing conservation policies which takes into account the changing dynamics of the living environment, and sound methods for assessing the impact of future projects on the heritage.