In summer 2008, my wife and I took what many refer to as a “babymoon”. She was pregnant with our first child and we decided to take our last child-free vacation. We knew that we could not travel a quick paced or as great distanced as we were used to, so we decided to go to Bath. The city is walkable, even with pregnancy-induced “cankles”. There were enough things that piqued our interest without forcing us to be tourists for 18 hours per day. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip (and I’m planning on organizing what I learned from that trip in a series of blog posts).
Today, I read the article from The Guardian reporting that Bath saved its World Heritage Status. UNESCO does not give this status out to just anyone. The most historically important, culturally significant, and naturally beautiful places in the world gain this status. Bath was added to this list for the Roman Baths and the town’s architectural significance. But it was almost dropped from the list because of the new Southgate Center. Specifically, Southgate did not have enough “places” other than residential and retail. As they say in Starbuck’s speak, the new development did not have enough “third space”–pubs, movie theatres, schools, clinics, etc.
This might be true, but I visited Bath back in 1999. And while the new Southgate might be missing something, it the former “modern” Southgate that should have instigated removal from the UNESCO list, not this new development which, from what I saw in summer 2008, blended in more harmoniously with surrounding historical buildings.
Here’s hoping Bath does what it needs to do to keep its UNESCO status and for having the vision to tear down the old, horrendous Southgate.
Bath Keeps UNESCO World Heritage Status
Today, I read the article from The Guardian reporting that Bath saved its World Heritage Status. UNESCO does not give this status out to just anyone. The most historically important, culturally significant, and naturally beautiful places in the world gain this status. Bath was added to this list for the Roman Baths and the town’s architectural significance. But it was almost dropped from the list because of the new Southgate Center. Specifically, Southgate did not have enough “places” other than residential and retail. As they say in Starbuck’s speak, the new development did not have enough “third space”–pubs, movie theatres, schools, clinics, etc.
This might be true, but I visited Bath back in 1999. And while the new Southgate might be missing something, it the former “modern” Southgate that should have instigated removal from the UNESCO list, not this new development which, from what I saw in summer 2008, blended in more harmoniously with surrounding historical buildings.
Here’s hoping Bath does what it needs to do to keep its UNESCO status and for having the vision to tear down the old, horrendous Southgate.