IT’S ALMOST OBLIGATORY FOR travelers to pay tribute, wherever they go, to at least one UNESCO World Heritage site. The 1,031 cultural and natural treasures that carry the UNESCO brand — iconic places like Angkor Wat, Machu Pichu, the Great Barrier Reef, Iguaçu National Park, and more — are a deliberate roster of the world’s greatest gems.
But while many of us gawk and gape at the grandeur of the World Heritage List, there’s one group of people who aren’t always so keen on UNESCO designation: the people who actually have to live in the circumscribed reality of a protected yet inhabited World Heritage City.