John Bold, co-ordinator of the Architectural History and Cultural Studies Group was project leader of the Ljubljana Process between 2003-10. The Process has continued since 2011 as the Ljubljana Process II, managed by the Regional Cooperation Council based in Sarajevo, with the aim of further institutionalising the methodology and further enabling national authorities to oversee the political sustainability of the project. The Process was designed to establish methodologies for heritage-led rehabilitation in countries undergoing political, social and economic transition: improving heritage management practices; increasing ministerial acceptance of responsibility for the built heritage which had been lost in the new world, post-communist order; establishing a transferable model; and fund-raising for the rehabilitation of a wide range of sites, encouraging new sustainable uses and jobs.

The methodology devised and developed by the Bold and colleagues was adopted in its entirety for the second phase of the project, with the addition of refinements in the business planning process.

The key outputs by the project leader relating to the project are:

  • Bold, John. ‘The Built Heritage of the Balkans: A Rehabilitation Project.’ Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society, 52, 2008, 49-63.
  • Bold, John. ‘Sustaining Heritage in South-East Europe: working with the Council of Europe 2003-10’, The Historic Environment: Policy and Practice, 4 (1) 2013, 75-86. DOI: 10.1179/1756750513Z.00000000026
  • Bold, John. The Ljubljana Process – Funding Heritage Rehabilitation in South-East Europe. Strasbourg, Council of Europe, 2008.

In addition, nine related books authored by the project leader are available on the Council of Europe website:  Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia.