urban planning Archives | World Heritage Sites

Seen from a hill, neat rows of large houses and a road between them. Each house has a neat yard in front.

Crespi d’Adda

A 19th-century company town built to provide a good standard of living for employees of a cotton mill.

A row of elegant buildings in Renaissance styles, all painted in pastel colors.

Historic Centre of Salvador de Bahia

A 16th-18th-century colonial capital where European, African and Indigenous cultural influences have blended and echo to the present day.

A narrow street, low white buildings on both sides and an archway across it.

Medina of Tunis

The ancient center of Tunis, with about 700 monuments dating to the 12th-16th century: mosques, gates, markets, palaces, noble houses, and more.

Urban Historic Centre of Cienfuegos

A 19th-century French settlement in Cuba with a range of interesting architecture, from neoclassical to deco and modern.

An arched stone bridge over a dry moat leads to a massive wall with a small gateway in it.

Fortifications of Vauban

12 sites designed for Louis XIV by the innovative military engineer Sebastien de Vauban in the late 17th-18th centuries.

Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra

Two towns that exemplify vernacular urban architecture of the Ottoman era.

The Ancient Town of Si Thep and its Associated Dvaravati Monuments

Remains of a town and other monuments dating to the Dvaravati Empire, origin of the Si Thep School of Art.

A long room with chandeliers, an arched ceiling and ornate decorations on walls and ceiling.

Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli

A group of private Baroque palaces used by government in the 16th-17th-century to house visiting dignitaries.

A room with some wall paintings still visible.

Archaeological Areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata

The remarkably-preserved remains of ancient Roman cities destroyed in a sudden eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Wachau Cultural Landscape

A picturesque segment of the Danube Valley with beautiful scenery and charming towns and villages.

A white building with an ornate doorway, flanked by double pillars in a baroque style.

University of Coimbra – Alta and Sofia

Portugal’s oldest university, with centuries of architecture and ancient traditions.

Several bright red wooden buildings in a row, one of which reads "Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic."

Old Town Lunenburg

A charming 18th-19th-century British colonial fishing settlement with colorful wooden buildings.

View down the length of the aqueduct, seen from the height of the upper row of arches.

Old Town of Segovia and its Aqueduct

A city with an interesting history of coexisting cultural communities, and with several historic monuments including a wonderfully intact Roman aqueduct.

View over a neighborhood with lots of traditional mansions.

City of Safranbolu

A medieval caravan stop on the Silk Road that contains many examples of traditional Ottoman architecture.

A huge palace, only a few stories high but very wide, with a huge flat plaza in front of it.

Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments

Peter the Great’s planned city of stunning Baroque architecture.

A view of some Kulangsu buildings on the island's edge.

Kulangsu, a Historic International Settlement

An 18-century commercial port where foreign and Chinese influences mixed and intertwined, especially evident in the unique range of architecture.

Historic Centre of Oaxaca and Archaeological Site of Monte Albán

A vibrant Spanish colonial city and an ancient pre-Columbian city.

An evening shot on the town square, which is partly visible with some trees on the right. Facing the square is the cathedral, brightly lit up with two tall towers.

Historic Fortified Town of Campeche

A colorful Spanish colonial town surrounded by fortifications.

A Romanesque church, round arched entryway open on three sides, a small tower.

Byblos

Ruins of many layers of civilizations and the birthplace of the Phoenician alphabet.

Seen across the square, a stately building - a palace - in an 18th-century baroque style.

Place Stanislas, Place de la Carrière and Place d’Alliance in Nancy

Three elegant 18th-century city plazas.

A ruin with walls intact and a very large interal arch, inside of which stand two almost complete pillars.

Villa Adriana (Tivoli)

A lavish retreat built for Roman emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century.

An attractive narrow city street, with buildings only 2-3 stories high; one of them looks like a gateway.

The Historic Centre of Guimarães

A charming medieval city center, considered the birthplace of Portuguese nationhood.

View up a cobbled street, low adobe houses on either side.

Historic Quarter of the City of Colonia del Sacramento

A well-preserved colonial city that reflects both Spanish and Portuguese influences.

Historic Centre of Puebla

An intact Renaissance city full of Spanish-colonial baroque architecture.

Looking down a canal with large red-brick warehouses lining both sides.

Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus

An ensemble of warehouses and office buildings resulting from Hamburg’s port trade in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The entranceway in the dille is arched and quite grand, with pillars inside it. The building extends out on both sides, lower than the central archway, with smaller arches along its length.

Historic City of Ahmedabad

A medieval walled city of unique gated communities and many architectural monuments in a mix of styles.

This view from a mountain of Rio de Janeiro shows how much nature surrounds the city, with mountains around it and rows of mountains in the distance as well.

Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea

A vibrant city nestled between lush mountains and the sea.

A view from above of a long stretch of beach lined with palm trees and a pedestrian and bike path.

Nice, Winter Resort Town of the Riviera

An early example of a city that developed due to tourism.

A bright yellow house on a sloping hill.

Historic Quarter of the Seaport City of Valparaíso

An important 19th-century port city that preserves its urban industrial architecture to this day.

View of a bridge across a river leading to a pretty town of white buildings with red roofs, a steeple peeking up above them.

Old City of Berne

A unique example of urban planning from the Middle Ages that has developed over time while still respecting the original plan.

A massive tree fills most of the picture, forming a neat ceiling of a sort over a pedestrian area.

Historic Town of Guanajuato and Adjacent Mines

A colonial-period silver-mining center, with subterranean streets and Baroque architecture.

A street in Lijiang: shop houses along the right, with red lanterns hanging from the eaves. Motorbikes parked, a child walks in the street, willow trees overhang the street on the left.

Old Town of Lijiang

A charming traditional Chinese town that combines Naxi, Han, Bai and Tibetan influences.

View over the city. In the foreground, a large monument with a cross. Below, the city, with its grid of streets, and in the background, the volcano, its peak surrounded by clouds.

Antigua Guatemala

A lovely city that illustrates Spanish colonial-era architecture, city planning, and culture.

Looking down from a balcony above the green water of the Roman Bath. The lower floor around the pool has a colonnade around it, held up by pillars.

City of Bath

Famous Georgian-period spa town with surviving elements from its Roman-period history as well.

A long portico stretching ahead, the end point not visible. Just a couple of people walk on it in the distance.

The Porticoes of Bologna

An architectural element that, over centuries, has become an integral part of life in Bologna and around the world.

The wall of the Medina of Essaouira's fortification: an opening shows a cannon pointed outward, and a guard post rises next to it. In front of the wall on the water's edge are blue-painted fishing boats.

Medina of Essaouira (formerly Mogador)

An 18th-century fortified city incorporating both African and European architectural forms.