League of Historical Cities


The League of Historical Cities was established in Kyoto, Japan in 1987. It holds a biennial world conference and provides cities from different cultures with a platform for bilateral cooperation and mutual learning. The League also acts as a think tank for bilateral cooperation and best practices. It aims to strengthen affiliations between historic cities to exchange knowledge and experience and ultimately, world peace by deepening mutual understanding and building on the common foundation of historical cities to strengthen affiliations between cities.
As of December 2014, the league is composed of 119 members from 66 countries and regions. It is in partnership with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, International Council on Monuments and Sites and the Organization of World Heritage Cities.

World Conference of Historical Cities

The league holds a biennial world conference.
  1. Kyoto 1987 "Historical Cities in the 21st Century – Tradition and Creativity -"
  2. Florence 1988 "Historical Cities in the Future of Mankind"
  3. Barcelona 1991 "The Memories of and Futures of Cities"
  4. Kyoto 1994 "In Quest of the Wisdom of Historical Cities"
  5. Xi'an 1996 "Revival of Historical Cities"
  6. Kraków 1998 "Heritage and Development of Historical Cities"
  7. Montpellier 2000 "History of Value"
  8. Montreal 2003 "Conserving and Developing – How? With whom? Why? –"
  9. Gyeongju 2005 "Today and Tomorrow of the Historical Cities: Preservation and Restoration of the Historical Cities"
  10. Ballarat 2006 "Sustainable Historical Cities: – Economics, Preservation and Visions for the Future –"
  11. Konya 2008 "Living Cultural Heritage in Historical Cities"
  12. Nara 2010 "Succession of Historical City with Creative Revitalization"
  13. Huế 2012 "Defining Universal Heritage Challenges and Solutions"
  14. Yangzhou 2014 "Historical Cities: Ancient Culture Integrated into Modern Civilization"
  15. Bad Ischl 2016 "Smart, innovative, creative historical cities of the future"
  16. Bursa 2018 "The Impact of Globalization on Culture and Way of Living"

    Member cities

Africa