- ICT for sustainable Development in World Heritage Site    1059 kb by    Yamaguchi, Shinobu Yume & Takada, Jun-ichi & Ooka, Nobuo | yamaguchi@gsic.titech.ac.jp    Short Outline Luang Prabang faces needs for sustainable development since world heritage inscription. The paper introduces ICT needs and applicable technology on the site. This case study highlights sustainability issues when introducing ICT to heritage site. Abstract While tourism increased substantially since the inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List, a town of Luang Prabang, Lao PDR, faces the need of establishing specific policies and programs to ensure sustainable development. As ITU�fs study indicates (1984), ICT itself is not a direct element which raises standard of living. It could accelerate development for the local population by facilitating access to information and communication, thus, complementing different development activities in the field of education, culture, health and tourism. Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) has been collaborating with UNESCO and La Maison du Patrimoine (MdP) of Government of Laos, in identifying and introducing applicable information communication technology (ICT) to the World Heritage Site of Luang Prabang. The focus is on the means by which the ICT can contribute to promote sustainable management of natural and cultural resources for regional development. Preliminary study result found that Luang Prabang has two types of ICT needs. One area of needs is to establish information management system in MdP which aims at an effective management and utilization of significant value of information that MdP accumulated during the last decades. Possible options are: 1) Establishment of Database Management System (DBMS) ; 2) Development of Local Area Network (LAN) within MdP and among other government offices; and 3) creation of the portal website linking with DBMS are the possible options. Another area of needs identified is to develop ICT centers known as �gKnowledge Kiosks�h. This aims at increasing benefits of information management through information center by providing better access to necessary information for both local community and tourists. A local ICT team (six core members) was formed in 2005 to be trained as local human resources to develop and maintain adaptable ICT applications in the above mentioned areas of needs. The authors hope to highlight and discuss the issues to be considered, particularly from sustainability aspects in introducing ICT into the World Heritage Site in the developing country. Keywords sustainable development, ICT application to heritate site, regional development Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2006: Cities between Integration and Disintegration   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper