The World Bank Group (WBG) has long recognized that the restoration and preservation of cultural heritage, urban regeneration, and sustainable tourism can play a vital role in developing countries’ efforts to promote local economic development, accelerate social integration, and alleviate poverty.
Against this backdrop, their new research report—Cultural Heritage, Sustainable Tourism and Urban Regeneration: Capturing Lessons and Experience from Japan with a Focus on Kyoto—sheds light on lessons learned from the development experience of Kyoto City, the imperial capital of Japan for more than a thousand years, and home to 14 well-conserved UNESCO World Heritage sites and many historic districts.