Member of the Steering Committee
Francesco Bandarin is an architect and urban planner. He graduated in architecture from the Institute of Architecture of Venice (IUAV) and has a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. From 1980 to 2016 he was Professor of Urban Planning and Conservation at IUAV.
Mr. Bandarin served as Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and Secretary of the World Heritage Convention from 2000 to 2011, and as Assistant Director-General for Culture at UNESCO from 2010 until 2018. During this time he coordinated several important conservation projects in Cairo, Jerusalem, Angkor, Axum and Afghanistan, among many others, and encouraged reflection on urban conservation issues that led to the adoption of the UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape in 2011. As Assistant Director-General for Culture he was responsible for the management of six international treaties on heritage and for operational activities in the areas of tangible and intangible heritage.
Mr. Bandarin has served on numerous international juries and committees. In 2014, he was President of the Jury of the “New Ideas” prize of the Bordeaux Architectural Biennale, and President of the Jury of the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2015, he was appointed President of the Jury of the First Shenzen Creative Design Award (SCDA); elected President of the Italian Association of Historic Cities (ANCSA); and appointed as a member of the Visiting Committee of the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles.
His recent publications include The Historic Urban Landscape: Managing Heritage in an Urban Century (2012) and Reconnecting the City: The Historic Urban Landscape Approach and the Future of Urban Heritage (2014), both co-authored with Ron van Oers. A forthcoming book, co-authored with Ana Roders, completes this series: Reshaping Urban Conservation: the Historic Urban Landscape Approach (2018). He was a member of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture Steering Committee in 2016.