Protection

Wismar and Stralsund have developed measures to protect their joint World Heritage. The primary objective of these measures is to preserve urban layouts and building fabric of both cities. This involves the maintenance and repair of the historic city layouts in order to preserve the appearance and the conservation and restoration of monuments to safeguard the visual integrity.

Management Plans

A prerequisite for the UNESCO World Heritage nomination was the management plans which were established in the year 2000. Since then, the development of historic centres is documented by way of annual monitoring and the implementation of the objectives and actions thereby controlled.

The management plan of Wismar was updated in 2013, and that of Stralsund in 2015.

Monitoring

The management plan is regularly reviewed and subject to performance review through annual monitoring. A comprehensive Periodic Reporting monitoring exercise is carried out by UNESCO every six years.

Integrated Urban Development Plan (ISEK)

The Hanseatic Cities of Wismar and Stralsund have an Integrated Urban Development Plan (ISEK) and therefore have a spatially integrated, stakeholder and interagency strategy to meet the challenges of future urban development. Population growth and demographic change are central issues that require urban, economic and social solutions with a medium to long term planning scope.

ISEK Wismar, 2013 Update (PDF, 4.7 MB)

ISEK Stralsund, 2015 Update (PDF, 8.7 MB)

Statutes

Stralsund and Wismar use important legal instruments for the protection and preservation of their World Heritage. The discussion of important legal planning instruments has been anchored within its own sphere in local law. Both cities have a redevelopment statute, preservation statute, design regulations, memorials regulation and development plans.

Buffer zone

Buffer zones are maintained in order to better protect World Heritage sites. Various statutes, regulations and other legal provisions apply to the buffer zone and therefore serve to prevent unwanted developments.

The buffer zone in Stralsund includes harbour islands and subsections of the three adjacent suburbs.

The buffer zone in Wismar comprises 108 hectares and forms a belt around the World Heritage property with large areas of the Luebsche Thorweide meadows and the dockside industrial park in the west.

Monument Plan of the Historic Centre of Stralsund

To correctly implement monument preservation, documentation and evaluation of the values of a site are necessary. Stralsund uses a monuments plan which is an important source of information for management as well as for homeowners and architects. The recorded data is documented in the form of registers.