CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE COASTAL ZONE - URBAN PLANNING REUSE OF THE WWII 'ATLANTIC WALL'

摘要

The remains of the Atlantic Wall installations (bunkers) of WWII which extend all along the western coasts of Europe (of France, of the British Channel Islands. Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark and Norway), presents a subject worthy of research. From a cultural heritage and urban planning standpoint, the question of the reuse and best possible rendering-exploitation-reuse of this European modern day equivalent of the Great China Wall. This research interest can be attributed amongst others to its uncommon, unconventional utilitarian character, and to the trans-European historical identity which involves a shared cultural heritage as well as to the size and architectural nature of this most extensive cross-border linear building form. Apart from reference being made to historical elements describing the various phases of planning, construction and use and the role that it played during the war period, the article exposes the choice of not destroying but of maintaining-rebuilding and preserving of sections of the Atlantic Wall by the responsible institutions of the interested European states, leading to its final transformation of uses and operation today. Finally, case studies are presented from a number of European countries, with focus on the type of intervention, in the urban re-planning and in the local, territorial-urban transformations of coastal departments of cities today, which render new cultural poles of built-up, urban and tourist attraction and recreation.