Heritage awareness and sustainability of built environment in architectural and urban design education : between best practices and real conditions

This paper presents the initial findings of the project on the Enhancing of Heritage Awareness and Sustainability of Built Environment in Architectural and Urban Design Higher Education (HERSUS), coordinated by University of Belgrade - Faculty of Architecture as a leading higher education institution, with partner institutions of Universita Iuav di Venezia, University of Cyprus – Department of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – School of Architecture and University of Sevilla – UNESCO Chair on Built Urban Heritage CREhAR in the digital era. The paper will present the review of the best practices on educating sustainability and heritage, specifically regarding mapping representation of (1) various scales in education, building practice and policy context in each country, and (2) scales across the consortium countries, aiming at identifying strengths connected to methods, materials and teaching experiences. The purpose of this initial phase is to support the participating Architectural Schools in establishing high-quality standards in the terms of sustainability of the built heritage, through cross-cultural communication and solving problems in an international environment. The paper will present the best practices on educating sustainability of heritage in different schools within European context, hence map (1) the relation of selected teaching courses, built projects and policies in regards to different scales – Landscape planning, Urban planning and design, and Architecture, Construction and Interior design, and (2) provide valuable insight for the context of Serbia regarding teaching and policy recommendations. Having in mind that majority of Serbian Network of Urban Morphology members are participating in this project, as well as the project leader, the special emphasis will be on the morphological perspective. The paper will highlight parallels of conditions and educational practices from different countries with the morphological tradition, observable through the existence of UM regional networks.