@winterkjm: Regardless of this enterprise I would be interested to know which other USA sites you deem worthy of inscription. Maybe we could discuss this some other time when this project is over.

New York Skyscrapers - USA, NY
OUV: Rockefeller Center, Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Flat Iron Building, ... Very little doubt in my mind that this warrants inscription. Only open question is what subset of buildings to pick.

Brooklyn Brown Stones, USA, NY
OUV: "By the late 1840s, however, brownstone became the most fashionable building material for row house facades. First, brownstone reflected the mid-19th-century popularity of Romantic Classicism, which glorified picturesque Nature. (Think of the idealized landscape paintings of the Hudson River School.) Brownstone echoed the dark browns, grays and greens of the romanticized landscape."
https://www.brownstoner.com/architecture/brownstone-brooklyn-architecture-charles-lockwood/

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, USA, GA
OUV: Hidden gem of a Southern swamp
https://www.worldheritagesite.org/tentative/Okefenokee+National+Wildlife+Refuge

Disneyland, USA, CA
OUV: The iconic amusement park.

History of Film - Hollywood, USA, CA
OUV: The place for movies. There are still plenty of historic buildings left.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hollywoods-historic-buildings-8182087/?page=9

Bryce Canyon, USA, UT
OUV: Iconic stone structures. Navajo history.
"Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange, and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular views for park visitors. Bryce Canyon National Park is much smaller, and sits at a much higher elevation than nearby Zion National Park. The rim at Bryce varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet (2,400 to 2,700 m)."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryce_Canyon_National_Park

Zion Canyon, USA, UT
OUV: Navajo history. "Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a variety of life zones that allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds, 75 mammals (including 19 species of bat), and 32 reptiles inhabit the park's four life zones: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches."
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zion_National_Park

Arches National Park, USA, UT
OUV: Iconic Arches and the most natural arches world wide.
"Arches National Park is a national park in eastern Utah, United States. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, 4 miles (6 km) north of Moab, Utah. More than 2,000 natural sandstone arches are located in the park, including the well-known Delicate Arch, as well as a variety of unique geological resources and formations. The park contains the highest density of natural arches in the world.[3][4]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arches_National_Park

Miami Beach Architectural District, USA, FL
OUV 2nd Largest concentration of Art Deco buildings in the world (after Napier, NZ).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Beach_Architectural_District

The Mall of Washington DC, USA, DC
OUV: Monumental government buildings lined along a central axis, the Mall.

French Quarter of New Orleans
OUV: "The district as a whole has been designated as a National Historic Landmark, with numerous contributing buildings that are separately deemed significant. It is a prime tourist destination in the city, as well as attracting local residents. Because of its distance from areas where the levee was breached during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as well as the strength and height of the nearest Mississippi River Levees in contrast to other levees along the canals and lakefront,[3] it suffered relatively light damage from floodwater as compared to other areas of the city and the greater region."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Quarter

To be discussed USA:
* History of cars sites (Ford, Detroit)
* History of computer science sites (California)
* Appalachian Mountains or Appalachian Trail
* Maine / Acadia National Park
* Massachusetts Coast - Nantucket, Cape Cod, Cap Ann
* Museums of New York
* Mississippi Eco System
* Spanish Colonial Heritage Florida
* Dutch Colonial Heritage (if any)
* Great Lakes Eco System:
** Pictured Rocks National Park
** Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, USA
** Voyageurs

Assif
* Moscow Metro could be extended to include St. Petersburg and Kiev.
* Seven Sisters should be extended to include at least communist architecture of Moscow in full, e.g VDNKh. But maybe also transnational with Warsaw and Minsk.

Far more interesting (and important) than the so-called "road of bones".


An important discovery that changed our thinking about Paleolithic Art.

"Discovery of the Paleolithic art in the Southern Urals within the distance of 4 thousand kilometers from Pyrenees gives evidence to the existence of the Ural center of the Paleolithic culture (the second after the South-Western Europe)."


For me, perhaps the best of Soviet-era proposals.

I would support these 4 proposals. They all stand out as major additions to the world heritage list. The rest of the Russian proposals seem (in large part) to be worthy of inscription, but perhaps not "Top Missing". I have to study more for some of the natural sites.

I second this. It is also on my own list with its TWHS name Historical and Cultural Jeyrakh-Assa Reservation (T). The TWHS contains only an area of Ingushetia with the largest amount of Vainakh towers.
Wikipedia | Google Image Search

Postwar Minsk, Belorussia
OUV: Full city center rebuild in Communist/Stalinist style.
"Minsk is arguably the greatest neoclassical European city of the 20th century, with most buildings in the city centre resplendent with colonnades, baroque archways and romantic skylines of spires, obelisks and heroic sculptures, all on an axial plan integrated with landscaped parklands around the river Svisloch. "
https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/7489/hatherley-minsk-architecture-post-soviet-city

Gamla stan, Stockholm, Sweden
OUV: Unique nordic old town on an island.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamla_stan

Archipelago Sea, Finnland & Sweden
Description: Island stretching from Turku, Finland to Stockholm, Sweden, including the Alands.
OUV: "By some definitions it contains the largest archipelago in the world by the number of islands, although many of the islands are very small and tightly clustered."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archipelago_Sea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_archipelago

Sigtuna, Sweden
OUV: Best preserved old town in Sweden.
"Sigtuna has a picturesque medieval town centre with restaurants, cafes and small shops. The old church ruins, runic stones and the old main street (Stora gatan) are popular attractions for tourists especially in the summertime. The small streets with the low built wooden houses lead up to several handicrafts shops and the old tiny town hall, (Sigtuna Rådhus). There are restaurants and Sigtuna Stadshotell, a hotel in the town centre.[5]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigtuna

Skärgårds of Western Sweden
Description: The western coast of Sweden is dotted by small islands. To me the area close to the Norwegian border is best. There is a Marine National Park (Kosterhavets national park). But the whole area should be listed.

Yes. Lucky Luke deserves a WHS. :)


Sounds great.


Yes. Where skyscrapers and elevators were invented.

I would love to! I will share these sites when this regions proposals are officially closed.


I fear for these two, the names are bigger than what's on display. The nature of the amusement park business, constant upgrades, construction make Disneyland a difficult WHS.

In the past, I have proposed a site called "Movie Palaces on Broadway - Los Angeles". These are a series of old movie theaters that were built during the early motion picture age, all located on Broadway Street in downtown LA (not Hollywood). I find this collection more impressive, historic, and representative than what remains on Hollywood Blvd. That being said, on Hollywood Blvd, The Chinese Theater, El Capitan Theater, and the Egyptian Theater are all preserved well. Maybe these sites could be combined? In previous discussions, proposals were also made to include some of the historic movie studios (Paramount, Warner Brothers, etc). While some of these theaters are impressive, I remain unsure if this deserves to be labelled "Top Missing"? Most visitors who come to LA are inevitably a bit let down by Hollywood, because the name/history spark the imagination. The reality is a bit different, there are a couple historic theaters both in Hollywood and DTLA, the LA Conservancy offers tours that bring out this authentic history.

Yeah, I figured. I think both would have been nice if anything authentic had remained. One reason to look at young WHS.

The Great Smokey Mountains National Park is located in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. It would be nice to add more historical trails to the world heritage list though.

"At over 209,000 hectares, the property is one of the largest intact forest ecosystems in the southern Appalachian mountains, and contains one of the largest blocks of deciduous, temperate, old growth forests remaining in North America."

In regards to the history of computer science sites, there is not much that could be strung together to make a focused world heritage site. There are historic buildings in Universities in Silicon Valley, such as Stanford, but other than that I cannot think of much.

Great Lakes Eco System:
Pictured Rocks National Park
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
Voyageurs National Park
(plus) Isle Royal National Park

As impressive as some of these listed sites are, many of the best nature reserves on Lake Superior (in particular) are actually located in Ontario, Canada.

I have only one to propose in this section:

Full Name of Site: Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail
Country: United States of America
TWHS? No
Short description of site: Beginning around 15,000 years ago, when the last great continental ice sheets were retreating, a tounge of ice blocked the drainage of meltwater, forming immense lakes in what is now the US state of Montana. On at least 40 occasions, over a 2,000 year period, the ice dams suddenly failed, sending huge amounts of water careening west towards the Pacific Ocean. The effects of these floods are seen today as large and unusual geological features, such as Dry Waterfalls, permanent "Ripple" marks, mountains sculpted into Teardrop shapes, large Gorges (Columbia River Gorge), and Erratic Boulders. These features have been known for a long time, but it took decades of investigation in the mid-20th century to confirm their shared origins and to identify the cause of their creation. Most of the numerous locations are currently protected in some form of local preserve, however the US National Park Service is currently in the process of linking these thematically to create the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, the first such Trail to be focused on Geology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Age_Floods_National_Geologic_Trail
https://iafi.org/floods-features-map

Criteria: Natural
Outstanding universal value / comparative analysis: This serial site would contain locations thare are aesthetically beautiful, relatively easy to visit, and which tell an important story: that when climate changes rapidy, unexpected and destructive consequences can sometimes occur.

Then make it a Canadian or cross natural proposal.

The Trans-Siberian Railway is important both for its sheer dimension and for its role in allowing migration to colonised Siberia.
The Road of Bones is important as a site of memory, showing the magnitude of forced labour during Soviet times, the largest of its scale in modern times.

Well, again a lot to be supported:

Probably similar to Chicago Skyscrapers, but at least as influential.



I would certainly support a combined nomination, even for the top missing. I don't mind tourists being disappointed - cinema changed history in so many respects that it certainly deserves its place.


Maybe a geological curiosity, but still beautiful.


I proposed Seven Sisters from Moscow, which are single monuments. I think they are more monumental and iconic of communism, but they do not constitute an ensemble. Minsk, completely destroyed in the war and then redesigned, shows potential to encapsulate the Stalinist town planning.


A site representing manmade climate change! Yes!

Why would this be "better" than Kvarken?