Our 2026 Meet Up
in Kuching
We are pleased to announce that the 2026 ISC20C Annual General Meeting & Annual Colloquium will take place in Kuching (Sarawak), Malaysia, on 16 October 2026.
The event is conceived in the framework of the ICOMOS 22nd General Assembly (17–23 October 2026), so it will be a great opportunity to meet in person and take part in the broader GA programme of visits, workshops and discussions.
Overall Program:
16 October 2026, Friday
09:00 AM - 12:30 PM AGM
12:30 PM - 02:30 PM LUNCH BREAK
02:30 PM - 05:30 PM ANNUAL COLLOQUIUM
Study Visit:
17 October 2026, Saturday
2:30 PM - 04:30 PM ISC20C STUDY VISIT TO BROOKE DOCKYARD INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE MUSEUM, KUCHING
Official Gathering
AGM Meeting Details
We invite all members of the ISC20C to join us for our Annual General Meeting. This session is critical for approving past records, electing new leadership, and discussing our collective vision for the upcoming year.
Meeting time
Friday, 16 October 2026
09:30 AM – 12:30 PM (MYT/GMT+8)
VENUE SPECIFICS
Borneo Cultures Museum (Meeting Room)
Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
AGM Agenda (tentative)
Introductory Session
• Welcome and opening remarks
• Approval of agenda and minutes of previous AGM
• President's report
• Secretary General's report
• Membership Secretary's Report
• Treasurer's report
Report from Bureau Groups
• Updates from working groups and regional representatives
Final Session
• Overview of members reports and activities
• 2027 ISC elections and Bylaws
• Proposals for 2027 AGM and preliminary call 2028 AGM
• Any other business (AOB)
• Closing remarks and adjournment
Attend Online
Unable to join us in Malaysia? Participate online from wherever you are. Click here to register.
Adaptive Futures: Living with
20th-Century Heritage in a Changing World
ANNUAL COLLOQUIUM, 16 OCTOBER 2026, 02:30 PM-05:30 PM
Twentieth-century heritage is often still in active use: housing, civic buildings, public institutions, infrastructure and landscapes that shape everyday life.
In a changing world of climate impacts, rapid urban transition, evolving standards, and shifting community needs, modern heritage often needs to adapt to remain lived-in, safe, inclusive and meaningful, while retaining what makes it significant.
This half-day forum brings together practitioners, researchers, policymakers and communities to share real-world decisions, trade-offs, and tools for managing change with care.
Themes
Objectives
Theme I
Climate Resilience, Adaptation and Mitigation for Modern Heritage
This theme invites case studies on how 20th-century heritage places are being adapted to respond to climate risks, changing environmental standards and the need to reduce carbon impact. Submissions should show how practical interventions balance resilience, comfort, safety and sustainability while retaining heritage significance.
Theme II
Living Heritage and Social Values
This theme explores 20th-century heritage as places that remain in use, remembered, contested and valued by communities today. Submissions may address participation, changing meanings, everyday use, inclusive interpretation and governance approaches that help modern heritage remain relevant.
Future Stewardship
Reframe “Adaptive Futures” as an actionable conservation agenda for 20th-century heritage.
Applied
Lessons
Share practice-based tools and lessons for adaptation: what changed, why, and how significance was protected.
Collective Exchange
Strengthen interdisciplinary exchange across conservation, architecture, engineering, planning, policy, and communities.
Living
Values
Bridge fabric and people-centred values by foregrounding social value, lived experience, and continuity of use.
16 Oct 2026 Event Timetable
Times follow Malaysia (MYT/GMT+8). Online guests should check their specific local time differences.
09:00 AM
AGM Registration and Welcome
ISC20C members-only AGM session.
Light refreshments served.
09:30 AM–12:30 PM
Annual General Meeting
Restricted to members only. Join us via hybrid or in-person.
12:30 PM–02:30 PM
Lunch Break
Lunch is self funded.
02:30 PM–02:40 PM
Colloquium Opening
Welcome speech by ISC20C President
02:40 PM–03:20 PM
Colloquium Session I
Climate Resilience, Adaptation and Mitigation for Modern Heritage
2:40 PM - 3:00 PM
Eng Jia Wei & Ho Weng Hin • Adapting an Interwar Commercial Ensemble: Conservation, Climate Adaptation and Contemporary Stewardship at Temasek Shophouse, Singapore • In person
3:00 PM - 3:20 PM
Nur A’ishah Muhd Noorul Anam • Climate-Responsive Adaptation of the Old General Post Office, Kuala Lumpur • In person
03:20 PM–03:30 PM
Short Break
03:30 PM–05:10 PM
Colloquium Session II
Living Heritage and Social Values
3:30 PM - 3:50 PM
Dumitru Rusu • Monuments to Collective Joy – State Circuses and Socialist Modernism: Adaptive Requalification and Reuse in the Former Eastern Bloc • In person
3:50 PM - 4:10 PM
Adnan Aljaber • Three Paths to Adaptive Futures: State, Community and Market in Sustaining Saudi Arabia’s Twentieth-Century Heritage • Online
4:10 PM - 4:30 PM
Sofía Marín, Alejandra Cifuentes & María del Pilar Sánchez Beltrán • San Juan de Dios Hospital Complex: Rescuing a Public Symbol through Community Action • Online
4:30 PM - 4:50 PM
Cecil Madell & Quahnita Samie • Landscapes of Resistance: Case Studies in Liberation Heritage, Social Values, and Community on Cape Town’s Cape Flats • Online
4:50 PM - 5:10 PM
Don Hong & Thomas Cheung • Beyond Instagram: Popular Culture, Heritage Tourism and the Adaptive Future of Choi Hung Estate, Hong Kong • In person
05:10 PM–05:30 PM
Final Review
Summary of highlights and closing remarks.
Venue: Borneo Cultures Museum
Located in the heart of Kuching, Sarawak, the Borneo Cultures Museum serves as the prestigious venue for our 2026 ISC20C AGM and Annual Colloquium. This architectural landmark provides an inspiring setting for international dialogue on the preservation and adaptation of 20th-century heritage.
Separate Study Visit FOR ISC20C MEMBERS, 17 OCTOBER 2026, 2.30-4.30PM
Brooke Dockyard Industrial Heritage Museum
Participants will explore this significant site of Kuching's 20th-century maritime history. The museum showcases the transformation of the historic dockyard into a space for heritage preservation, highlighting the intersection of industrial legacy and cultural continuity. Photo credit: Yong Chee Keat.
Open to ISC20C members only. Register here
Location: Jalan Market, Kuching Waterfront, Sarawak
KUCHING 2026 • ISC20C • AGM • ADAPTIVE FUTURES