Traveling with OWHC Scholarship was such a great experience! When you are documenting your travels, you get deeper insights and you get to know the destination very well. It was interesting to learn more about UNESCO and to compare how it is lived or present in different countries.
Anyways, there are much more cultural heritage sites in Europe than in the US – even if it is a large country. Of course, you find more natural heritage sites like the bigger national parks, but cultural sites are rare. That makes the work of institutions like the Philadelphia Global Association even more important. It feels like US-American people are not so aware of UNESCO and I think it is important to raise this awareness, also in combination with the SDG and sustainability in general. While in Regensburg or Bamberg (almost) the whole old town is part of UNESCO, the American metropolises only have single UNESCO sites. The Bavarian cities promote themselves as UNESCO tourist cities, while this promotion doesn’t even exist in the US. However, every city had an important impact for the citizens, either it is the independence of a whole nation or a gardening culture that influenced the people and their way of living a lot. All those historical and cultural facts have an impact for our future. We do have to preserve our democracy and liberty that people fought for hundred years ago. We do have to protect our planet, get back to urban and local gardening and create liveable cities. We do have to be aware of what UNESCO means: UNESCO engages people everywhere to foster understanding and respect for each other and our planet – and especially in times of war, uncertainty and climate change, this awareness is valuable!
Thanks OWHC for this great experience! It was an honor to have the liberty to create my liberty ID.