On February 24 the Getty Conservation Institute and the City of Los Angeles launched HistoricPlacesLA, a new online system identifying cultural resources in Los Angeles. To create HistoricPlacesLA, the Getty Conservation Institute customized the Arches system, which has been jointly developed by the Getty Conservation Institute and WMF. Arches is an open-source, web-based geospatial information platform, built to inventory and protect cultural heritage places. HistoricPlacesLA is the largest implementation of Arches to date, and is based on version 3.0 of the system, which will soon be available to download, customize, and independently implement.

After three years of work, a project to increase employment through tourism development in Andahuaylillas, Huaro, and Urcos in Quispicanchi Province of the Cusco region of Peru finished on February 13. Implemented by Backus Foundation, the initiative began in 2012 with the aim to develop sustainable tourism in three districts along the Andean Baroque Route east of Cusco in collaboration with major institutions such as World Monuments Fund, GIZ, Jesus Obrero-CCAIJO Association, Sempa, Fondoempleo, and San Pedro Apóstol de Andahuaylillas Church. The project saw 112 people trained in business management, 37 as local counselors, 98 as professional guides, and 105 as specialized artisans. Three-quarters of the beneficiaries of this project who applied their new skills were able to double their monthly incomes. 

A recent field school led by Rahul Mehrotra, Chair of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, provided Harvard students an opportunity to examine and offer solutions to urban development challenges around the two Mughal-era gardens that are the focus of an ongoing WMF restoration project with the Archaeological Survey of India in Agra. The Harvard students are involved in a semester-long studio focusing on the preservation of the Mughal gardens and surrounding areas. More information about this studio can be found on the WMF website and Harvard's LOEBlog.

A careful inspection of the buildings at the George Nakashima property in New Hope, PA, has begun to determine their condition and develop a prioritized work plan to bring them to a high level of conservation. The first two buildings to be worked on will be the Arts Building and the Pool House. Built between the 1950s through the 1970s, the Nakashima complex, a 2014 World Monuments Watch Site, combines avant-garde construction technology, such as hyperbolic paraboloid roofs, with traditional Japanese hand-crafted elements.

Prior to the conditions assessment, the Arts Building was documented in photographs and measured drawings in cooperation with the University of Pennsylvania. This summer a craftsman training program will be initiated, under the supervision of John Lutz of Nakashima Woodworkers and master craftsman Aram Dadian, to train two apprentices in the maintenance and conservation of the Nakashima buildings.