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Historic centres constitute a heritage space given their historical importance and the existence of remains dating back to the origin of the city where they are located. In Spain, historic centres of greatest interest, with an important number of spaces and heritage buildings, are protected by legislation and other instruments for their conservation. This study focuses on 19 historic centres with the highest level of heritage protection in medium and small-sized cities in the Autonomous Region of Galicia. In the context of the current public policies for the rehabilitation of these historic centres, the aim of this article is to provide background and criteria for the rehabilitation of housing, facilities and public spaces mainly for elderly people.Based on the analysis of the main experiences and criticisms of the rehabilitation processes of historic centres, we comparatively analyse the population aged 65 and over and the state of conservation of the buildings in these historic centres. The results show that an important part is concentrated in the most deteriorated areas of these centres, showing greater vulnerability of this population. In order to incorporate inclusive design criteria and proposals for elderly people, we analysed studies that demonstrated the direct relation and positive impact of designs adapted for elderly people, on their physical and mental health and socialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Casablanca Medina Rehabilitation Project, spanning from 2010 to 2023, aimed to address deficiencies in this historic district. Its objectives encompassed improving living conditions, restoring the built environment, creating new infrastructure, safeguarding monuments, enhancing tourism appeal, and reviving economic activities. Divided into three phases, each spanning three years, this article focuses primarily on the inaugural phase, managed by the Casablanca Urban Agency from 2010 to 2013. Notably, this phase marked a significant milestone as it represented the city's first major project led by a public entity recognizing civil society's pivotal role. Within this context, the paper delves into the intricate dynamics of the key actors involved, with a particular emphasis on civil society, the steering committee, and Medina's resident population. It accentuates critical moments of conflict between these stakeholders, shedding light on the foundational representations underpinning their respective claims to legitimacy. Throughout the project's duration, multiple local associations played a crucial role in meticulously overseeing its progress. Serving as intermediaries bridging the divide between developers and the local population, they actively engaged in facilitating communication and conducting project presentations. However, this involvement was not without its challenges, as underlying tensions among different associations regarding their legitimacy to participate in the project surfaced. In conclusion, the paper underscores that citizen participation within the Medina project often retained a predominantly symbolic nature, marked by a preference for pre-established choices. In a broader context, these experiences illuminate the intricate challenges and complexities associated with citizen participation in urban development projects. They serve as a reminder that participatory processes can sometimes veer toward symbolism, with predetermined decisions eclipsing genuine collaboration. These insights encourage a deeper exploration of the multifaceted dynamics between civil society, authorities, and project implementation, offering valuable lessons for future urban development and community engagement endeavors.

Coworking spaces are shared workplaces in which desk space is available to remote workers, freelancers, and small enterprises. They offer the social, technological, and networking advantages of an office while allowing workers the freedom to reside in a location of their choice. Remote working has become a common work practice in recent years, accelerated by restrictions introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Irish Government policy strongly supports coworking spaces across the island to support employment diversity and retain populations in towns and villages. Along with the provision of viable workplaces, coworking spaces can provide a range of co-benefits to their localities, such as stimulating local economies and reducing commuting-related emissions. This paper describes a mixed-method study seeking to identify this range of co-benefits through a survey of coworking space users and semi-structured interviews with coworking space founders, managers, and coordinators. The study uses an integrative process to categorise the findings into social, urban, and environmental co-benefits. The research finds that locating a coworking space in a central rather than peripheral urban area can support and optimise many of these co-benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This phenomenon of slums represents one of the most serious problems that Iraqi cities suffer from, especially the city of Baghdad, which has become teeming with a lot of slum buildings that have distorted most of its areas and neighborhoods. Most of the slums are in the form of scattered construction and chaotic gatherings that do not follow any planning standards. This paper aims to present and analyze the mechanisms of urban upgrading of two models of slums in the city of Baghdad and London. The treatment was through the urban development of these slums and the provision and improvement of services to reduce the phenomenon of total removal. The GIS program was used to calculate the urban variables and requirements, the optimal locations for services, and the total and partial removal percentages. The research achieved the lowest percentage of total and partial removal of the actual areas, which amounted to 7.31% in the first model and 14.26% in the second model. The slum area was also provided with all the necessary services in accordance with the urban housing standards specific to each city, to turn it into a residential neighborhood instead of calling it a slum region.

The urban built environment of contemporary cities confronts a constant risk of deterioration due to natural or artificial reasons. Especially political aggression and war conflicts have significant destructive effects on architectural and cultural heritage buildings. The post-war urbanscapes demonstrate the striking effects of the armed conflicts during the hot war encounters. However, the residues of the urbanscapes become the actual indicators of damage and loss. Since today we can make future predictions using a variety of machine learning algorithms, it is possible to represent hybrid projections of urban heterotopias. In this context, this research proposes to explore dystopian post-war projections for modern cities based on their architectural styles and demonstrate the utopian scenarios of rehabilitation possibilities for the damaged urban built environment of post-war cities by using generative adversarial network (GAN) algorithms. Two primary datasets containing the post-war and pre-war building facades have been given as the input data for the CycleGAN and pix2pix GAN models. Thus, two different image-to-image GAN models have been compared regarding their ability to produce legible building facade projections in architectural features. Besides, the machine learning process results have been discussed in terms of cities' utopian and dystopian future predictions, demonstrating the war conflicts' immense effects on the built environment. Moreover, the immediate consequence of the destructive aggression on tangible and intangible architectural heritage would become visible to inhabitants and policymakers when the AI-generated rehabilitation potentials have been exposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Casablanca Medina Rehabilitation Project, spanning from 2010 to 2023, aimed to address deficiencies in this historic district. Its objectives encompassed improving living conditions, restoring the built environment, creating new infrastructure, safeguarding monuments, enhancing tourism appeal, and reviving economic activities. Divided into three phases, each spanning three years, this article focuses primarily on the inaugural phase, managed by the Casablanca Urban Agency from 2010 to 2013. Notably, this phase marked a significant milestone as it represented the city's first major project led by a public entity recognizing civil society's pivotal role. Within this context, the paper delves into the intricate dynamics of the key actors involved, with a particular emphasis on civil society, the steering committee, and Medina's resident population. It accentuates critical moments of conflict between these stakeholders, shedding light on the foundational representations underpinning their respective claims to legitimacy. Throughout the project's duration, multiple local associations played a crucial role in meticulously overseeing its progress. Serving as intermediaries bridging the divide between developers and the local population, they actively engaged in facilitating communication and conducting project presentations. However, this involvement was not without its challenges, as underlying tensions among different associations regarding their legitimacy to participate in the project surfaced. In conclusion, the paper underscores that citizen participation within the Medina project often retained a predominantly symbolic nature, marked by a preference for pre-established choices. In a broader context, these experiences illuminate the intricate challenges and complexities associated with citizen participation in urban development projects. They serve as a reminder that participatory processes can sometimes veer toward symbolism, with predetermined decisions eclipsing genuine collaboration. These insights encourage a deeper exploration of the multifaceted dynamics between civil society, authorities, and project implementation, offering valuable lessons for future urban development and community engagement endeavors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore one question: to what extent does urban rehabilitation impact the housing search cost of the low-income tenants. Design/methodology/approach: This paper adopts the fixed effects time-on-market (TOM) model and pricing model to study the research question. Findings: Urban rehabilitation lifts the subdivided units (SDUs') prices by around 7%. For the SDU located in old districts, urban rehabilitation gives rise to the rental price up by 11%–12%. The SDUs in the area without urban rehabilitation experience a short marketing period of 16%–17%. The SDU located in the old district that is without urban rehabilitation would have a short marketing time. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the pioneering research to investigate the relationship between rehabilitation and low-income rental housing from the improved search theory. The improved search theory posits that under the circumstance of urban rehabilitation, low-income tenants' options are limited and the search behavior will be restricted in the affordable areas, and then TOM will be shortened. With the concentration of SDUs in Hong Kong, the test of the search theory is broken down into two hypotheses. (H1) Urban rehabilitation leads to low-income housing prices increase. (H2) Low-income housing located in areas without urban rehabilitation has a shorter TOM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the contemporary framework of housing at the EU level in the era of the 'Housing at the Centre' approach. More specifically, the research focuses on mass housing neighbourhoods (MHN) as the leading pattern of urban transformation in European cities in the second half of the 20th century, with the intention being to decode the possibilities for its rehabilitation in line with integrated approaches. The article combines (1) a review-based and systematically-oriented approach, in order to provide a state of the art of EU design taxonomy related to the housing issue, and, more specifically, related to MHN, with (2) a comparative study between EU and national design taxonomies, in order to address their conditionality and possible mismatches. The research considers design taxonomy to gain a more comprehensive insight into the content and coherence between programme values and the relevant EU documents (declarations, statements, policy positions, resolutions, reports, communications, charters, action plans, opinions) related to the housing issue, or broader urban issues that include housing as the scope of observation. The taxonomy enables a conceptual methodological framework for a systematic, consistent, and complete description of key research relations. Accordingly, the specific objective of this article is to establish an evaluation framework for reprogramming of MHN based on the EU design taxonomy through (1) the development of the programming matrix for evaluation, which corresponds to the value-based architectural programming model; and (2) introducing Serbian national design taxonomy, in order to demonstrate the anticipation of design values based on the EU taxonomy within the local context. The results indicate the need to examine and test regulatory experimental settings through middle-out approaches, whose central research perspective will be built parallel and coherently through bottom-up inputs, created as the result of collaborative approaches at the community level, and top-down inputs which are the result of the strategic framework established in relation to priorities at the European level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the confrontation between the forms of urbanisation of Lisbon, Portugal, that extends its fringes over the Alcântara Valley. This same Valley—topography and hydrography—plays as determinants of the occupation that will assume distinct narratives. This gradual process is explained through three narratives about (1) the urbanisation of the margin driven by industrialisation and the construction of a stigmatised periphery, (2) the imposition of large capacity infrastructures far beyond what is local, (3) the system of open spaces and landscape projects and the urban brink that the valley claims. The debate focuses on the answers that the urban and landscape project, necessarily going through urban planning and its practical and theoretical scopes, i.e., Urbanism and urban planning thinking, especially in a broad present seeking to discuss both sides of the coin: on the one hand, an urban rehabilitation with public space for all, on the other hand, a qualified and central space that attracts real estate investment that may bring effects contrary to those expected. The article seeks to contribute (1) to a broader perception of the superimposition of processes that transformed the Alcântara Valley, (2) to a fuller dissemination of the urbanistic experiences in the city of Lisbon since this city is still vastly underrepresented in the international (primarily Anglo-Saxon) literature, (3) to deepen the debate between urban rehabilitation, urban regeneration, consequences and opportunities practiced is still trying to cope with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the requalification of buildings, the improvement of public spaces and the reorganization of motorized and pedestrian circulation, success is achieved, and thus the trend of decay of the urban fabric is reversed, transforming and returning urban centers to the people. The Strategic Plan for Urban Rehabilitation of Machico is an important document for the sustainable development of the city, which will contribute to social harmony and the improvement of the people's quality of life, reducing the environmental impact of human mobility, boosting the economy, and creating conditions for the usufruct of the city of Machico in terms of mobility. The current article arises with the main objective of analyzing the Strategic Plan for Urban Rehabilitation of the Municipality (PERU) of Machico, which is an essential tool for the sustainable development of Machico. It is also important to emphasize the dimension of PERU in local economic development, from the perspective of the real estate market and in public investment. The results obtained showed that the Municipality of Machico faces some challenges in the implementation of sustainable urban development programs, due to the recent financial and economic crisis, which could limit the existing funding to fund sustainable urban development programs. It is from this plan, from the solutions determined for the rehabilitation of the public space in terms of security and mobility, based on the urban operations that are being developed, that it will be possible to offer the population a sustainable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Conservar Património is the property of Associacao Profissional de Conservadores-Restauradores de Portugal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The nations of the ancient world paid special attention to the vegetation cover and made it units of different dimensions and different arrangements, and various types of life sciences, engineering, and art were used for these units. Nature, fresh air, and spacious spaces. Algerian cities in general and their residential streets, in particular, know many aspects of deterioration, especially those associated with the preparation of external areas, foremost of which is the apparent lack of creation of green spaces within urban areas. El Bayadh city, like others Algerians cities, complains of most of its residential streets of a complete absence of prepared green spaces, while the remaining streets contain green spaces in a deteriorating condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Car-oriented settlements have a negative impact on human beings and the environment. In many places, planners already try to densify such areas and retrofit infrastructure for pedestrians. While such measures are generally accepted for the improvement of liveability, it is still difficult to evaluate their impact. This paper aims to quantify proposed retrofit interventions for pedestrians in the new town of Pardis, Iran. Interventions are: introducing pedestrian zones, relocating parking spaces, traffic calming, removing barriers and decentralising facilities. Two different methods are used: 1) walking distances in combination with detour factors; and 2) space syntax. The results show that these methods are effective to quantify improvement for pedestrian retrofit measures. Even simple interventions such as removing fences have a measurable positive impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the contemporary framework of housing at the EU level in the era of the ‘Housing at the Centre’ approach. More specifically, the research focuses on mass housing neighbourhoods (MHN) as the leading pattern of urban transformation in European cities in the second half of the 20th century, with the intention being to decode the possibilities for its rehabilitation in line with integrated approaches. The article combines (1) a review-based and systematically-oriented approach, in order to provide a state of the art of EU design taxonomy related to the housing issue, and, more specifically, related to MHN, with (2) a comparative study between EU and national design taxonomies, in order to address their conditionality and possible mismatches. The research considers design taxonomy to gain a more comprehensive insight into the content and coherence between programme values and the relevant EU documents (declarations, statements, policy positions, resolutions, reports, communications, charters, action plans, opinions) related to the housing issue, or broader urban issues that include housing as the scope of observation. The taxonomy enables a conceptual methodological framework for a systematic, consistent, and complete description of key research relations. Accordingly, the specific objective of this article is to establish an evaluation framework for reprogramming of MHN based on the EU design taxonomy through (1) the development of the programming matrix for evaluation, which corresponds to the value-based architectural programming model; and (2) introducing Serbian national design taxonomy, in order to demonstrate the anticipation of design values based on the EU taxonomy within the local context. The results indicate the need to examine and test regulatory experimental settings through middle-out approaches, whose central research perspective will be built parallel and coherently through bottom-up inputs, created as the result of collaborative approaches at the community level, and top-down inputs which are the result of the strategic framework established in relation to priorities at the European level.

This paper deals with the confrontation between the forms of urbanisation of Lisbon, Portugal, that extends its fringes over the Alcântara Valley. This same Valley—topography and hydrography—plays as determinants of the occupation that will assume distinct narratives. This gradual process is explained through three narratives about (1) the urbanisation of the margin driven by industrialisation and the construction of a stigmatised periphery, (2) the imposition of large capacity infrastructures far beyond what is local, (3) the system of open spaces and landscape projects and the urban brink that the valley claims. The debate focuses on the answers that the urban and landscape project, necessarily going through urban planning and its practical and theoretical scopes, i.e., Urbanism and urban planning thinking, especially in a broad present seeking to discuss both sides of the coin: on the one hand, an urban rehabilitation with public space for all, on the other hand, a qualified and central space that attracts real estate investment that may bring effects contrary to those expected. The article seeks to contribute (1) to a broader perception of the superimposition of processes that transformed the Alcântara Valley, (2) to a fuller dissemination of the urbanistic experiences in the city of Lisbon since this city is still vastly underrepresented in the international (primarily Anglo-Saxon) literature, (3) to deepen the debate between urban rehabilitation, urban regeneration, consequences and opportunities practiced is still trying to cope with.

Copyright of Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (2522-3380) is the property of Arab Journal of Sciences & Research Publishing (AJSRP) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract Following a decades-long real estate bubble involving a culture of indiscriminate ownership and occupation of land, PAX—Patios de la Axerquía is proposing an innovative system of governance in the city of Córdoba in Spain that fosters a new urban model consistent with the aims of the New Urban Agenda and a Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive City: from a culture of speculation to one of rehabilitation. A system of multilevel co-management between the public administration and the social economy provides the basis for the acquisition and cooperative use of empty houses as a model of urban regeneration through social innovation in a heritage context. The rehabilitation of the patio-houses in Axerquía, which have been threatened by gentrification, aims to restore the environmental values of the Mediterranean city and upgrade its historical characteristics in a contemporary way together with the citizenship: from its architectural value as a World Heritage site to its anthropological value as Intangible Heritage of Humanity, as recognised by UNESCO in 2012. The interaction between innovative mechanisms of sustainable urban development opens up a pathway of virtuous policies for the densification of the existing city by the local population, generation of micro-employment, and support for collective projects that incorporate refugees and migrants in a system of solidarity. Updating the urban, environmental, social, and economic values of the traditional city is a step toward understanding the Mediterranean city as an undeniable reminder of our past and, at the same time, providing an essential tool for the future development of a smart, sustainable, and inclusive Europe.

The present communication proposes an imagery study on the transformations of the social housing Rainha Dona Leonor, in Porto, rehabilitated between 2017 and 2019. Through an immersive ethnographic work, it was possible to closely follow the radical changes that took place, from the demolition of the five housing blocks to the construction of a single block. In short, our methodology was guided by the following phases: 1) a series of exploratory visits to analyze the spatial morphology, the living conditions, the forms of occupation of shared spaces and the atmosphere of the neighborhood (receptivity, sense of security, accesses, flow of nonresidents); 2) further research into the history, context, and contemporary setting of the site; and 3) the close observation and follow up of two families from old residents. The idea of using photography as a resource for data collection and representation of the situation was due to its ability to convey the impact of the changes on the landscape, on the lives of the residents, and on their narratives before the demolition of their homes and after moving to their new homes. We registered details inside their old homes (their old lives), before being packed up, or discarded in the move to the new apartments. Furthermore, photography was taken as a tangible reminiscence for these people, remnant of their past life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of 'urban rehabilitation societies', a legal and institutional framework launched by the Portuguese government in 2004 and implemented locally ever since. The paper discusses how this model has provided an alibi for neoliberal narratives, grounded on the virtues of the market and on market-oriented strategies. The research methodology uses a combination of qualitative documentary analysis and face-to-face interviews with government officials and public officers to scrutinize the effects of policies on issues of governance and housing affordability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After modifying its urban planning legislation, Castilla y León has approved an Urban Regeneration Strategy -an instrument to facilitate decision making-. The paper analyse Spanish and regional context for urban regeneration delving into three aspects: degree of integration achieved in the urban planning system, capacity to direct and to balance the transformations of the existing city, and possibilities of promoting inclusive interventions. The Strategy looks for measuring the needs and the potential for transformation of projected interventions, but there are also some weaknesses and unknowns that hover over its still early application.

Copyright of Direito da Cidade is the property of Editora da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (EdUERJ) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines Lisbon's post‐crisis transition from a once dominant process of suburban expansion enabled by abundant credit to one of ongoing gentrification of its historic centre. In my research, I draw on quantitative and qualitative data to illustrate the remarkable growth of the metropolitan area's population and dwelling stock until the global financial crisis—which affected the Portuguese economy in the course of a process of financialization that relied heavily on the housing industry—and the intensity of urban rehabilitation in subsequent years. However, there is evidence that the latter has not halted nor reduced the loss of long‐term residents in the historic centre, as tourists and other international gentrifiers occupy the upgraded dwelling stock amid an escalation of house prices and rents. The specific contribution of this research lies in the link that it establishes between Lisbon's ongoing process of inner‐city gentrification and the lack of suburban expansion after 2007. By showing that the credit crunch triggered a shift in the geographic location of real‐estate capital that materialized in a new urban development model, this research adds an empirical layer to the study of the spatial effects of the crisis and contributes to the literature on the subsequent restructuring of southern European housing markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A decade has passed since Porto’s city council, through its “urban rehabilitation agency”, put forward a renewed strategy aiming at the urban “rehabilitation” of the city’s historic center. This paper presents some of the results of a field research willing to highlight the main physical and social transformations resulting from the materialization of that strategy. The paper scrutinizes some of the major changes in the social fabric of Porto’s historic center and analyzes how longtime residents interpret and deal with the implications of the rehabilitation-cumgentrification of their place of residence

Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic is from a euro-centric point of view ‘the first city of the New World’. Its historical monuments bear witness to this special status: the first convent, the first university, the colonial-city checkerboard; Plateresque architecture of Spain from the 15th and 16th centuries. This rich colonial history is for the international tourism. This cultural richness is one of the explanatory factors of the gentrification process in Santo Domingo, a process that essentially concerns the colonial city. Many investments are made in this specific area. Our article proposes to make the link between tourism development into the colonial city and socio-spatial changes.

Copyright of Direito da Cidade is the property of Editora da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (EdUERJ) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Historic centres are special parts of the urban fabric that must be kept alive, to avoid depopulation and gentrification. The energy renovation of its buildings is key to achieve a balance between the conservation of built heritage and the sustainability required to meet the needs of citizens, in terms of thermal comfort and energy efficiency. We argue that adopting a holistic approach at a neighbourhood scale, instead of the traditional individual building scale, will boost the large-scale energy renovation, due to economies of scale on energy savings and investment cost. Within our approach it was designed and implemented a geospatial-based index − Urban Energy Renovation (UER) − integrating socio-economic variables of households, buildingś characteristics and energy savings potential, with the purpose of benchmarking the capacity and opportunity for energy renovation in historic centres. The UER index was applied to ten historic centres in Portugal to compare energy savings potential, localize priority areas of intervention and identify contiguous areas with similar potential. We concluded that this spatial-based methodology contributes to boost large-scale energy buildings renovation in historic centres, which is key to attract new dwellers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large housing estates (LHEs) built during the communist era in the countries behind the ‘Iron Curtain’, nowadays, are places of residence for 20–30% of their population, covering a considerable amount of space in many cities. Therefore, changes that LHEs are undergoing are crucial for the quality of life of millions of people in Central and Eastern Europe. The aim of this study is to present the recent rehabilitation progress of LHEs through the example of three case study estates from Katowice – the historical centre of the Upper Silesian industrial agglomeration in Poland. Through inventory, mapping and observation, a set of data on the technical and visual state as well as on the functional aspects of the estates in question were gathered. The analysis led to the conclusion, that the general state of the investigated LHEs is satisfactory, but there are considerable differences in the speed of the rehabilitation process, which may result in a deepening polarisation of the quality of life on the estates in the near future.

The article presents the formation, the actual problems and the rehabilitation policies of the socialist housing estates built between the fifties and the eighties in Hungary. We intend to give an overview over the evolution of the social housing model after World War II in this region of Central Europe and its changes in the following decades. After the political and economical changes of 1990, practically from the 2000s rehabilitation processes of these quarters appear. The study examines the two main policies of urban regeneration of housing estates: governmental programmes that principally aim the energy efficient renovation of the buildings, and integrated urban rehabilitations with European subsidies of the last few years.

At the beginning of this century, the cities of our country face a challenge that, in quantitative terms, goes beyond the action referred to the rehabilitation of historic centres and XIX century extensions. This challenge is the rehabilitation of a specific fabric of our cities: neighbourhoods built in the period of 1940-1980, which are undergoing processes of serious urban degradation and can be identified as vulnerable urban areas. This article discusses the strategies taken from the various government levels in urban rehabilitation, and the experiences initiated with the aim of detecting what are the main barriers of all kind (legal, social, economic, cultural) that prevent the systematic practice of these initiatives, which today still have an experimental and minority character, and to forward proposals for action to achieve comprehensive and systematic urban rehabilitation in these neighbourhoods.

In 1944, Etienne de Groër designed the Coimbra Urban Plan. In this context, Avenida Santa Cruz reflects Estado Novo culture when crossing Baixinha with celebratory rhetoric. In 1992, Fernando Távora presented a study in order to attempt a solution concerning demolished blocks. What came to be realized is contradictory. In summary, Praça do Bota-Abaixo is a metonymy regarding complexity of democratic society. This article aims to reflect about the complex and often ineffective processes of urban rehabilitation. We should also talk about this when we talk about built heritage.

The role of urban rehabilitation in the vitality of urban centers is commonly perceived as a mandatory strategy for most cities with historical city centers. This unanimous principle has been developed under different models, with different objectives, and distinct tools and mechanisms for intervention. Strategies have been evolving from financing programs to partnership models in order to increase the effectiveness of the process, and engage the stakeholders in the same common objective. This paper is a study of the legal, strategic, and organizational forms that support urban rehabilitation interventions, analyzing the Portuguese case, where urban rehabilitation societies (URS) have been created. The URS tool stands out as the most recent means of rehabilitating degraded historical areas, such as those classified as urban recovering and reconverting areas. The URS provide a potentially successful model for large-scale intervention, and to overcome the lethargic behavior of owners, although it may have undesired social impacts due to an increase in real-estate housing prices. The paper addresses the new competencies of the model, the mechanisms by which it was applied, and the overall assessment of its development, providing policy implications useful to researchers and practitioners dealing with urban rehabilitation issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, one of the main concerns in the urban agenda of the European Union and Member States is how to adopt an integrated approach to urban challenges and needs of the consolidated city, in particular, to address the complex condition of multi-deprived neighbourhoods. Beyond the strategic integrated approaches based on economic interests perceived within the European Union, the disadvantage condition of multi-deprived areas requires an active and consistent implication of the diversity of urban players, including the affected communities themselves. This paper pursues to contribute to this urban challenge with a reflection about the social implications of massive remodelling or re-development operations of deprived localities in comparison with rehabilitation projects eluding the whole demolition-reconstruction processes. For this purpose, the social housing estates A, B and C of Fuencarral in Madrid are taken as reference case studies that represent an important lesson of the recent history of the City and the Remodelling Operation of neighbourhoods in Madrid. Fuencarral A and B units, built as temporal settlements in the late 60s, have undergone a massive remodelling intervention that has lasted more than expected; in fact, some residents complain that it is not yet concluded after more than two decades. While Fuencarral C, with somewhat higher standards, is a protected area on the General Urban Development Plan 1997 and declared as an Integrated Rehabilitation Zone (ZRI) in 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE DUBLIN HISTORIC CITY CENTRE AND THE EXPERIENCE OF TEMPLE BAR’S REHABILITATION: The aim of this paper is to present the experience of Temple Bar’s rehabilitation in Dublin. As one of the most popular neighbourhoods in Dublin’s historical city centre, Temple Bar has in the past undergone severe population decline coupled with a profound social, functional and environmental crisis. However, in the 1990s, one of Europe’s greatest urban rehabilitation success stories was to begin in Temple Bar. Within about a decade, it was able to draw residents once again, attract new activities, bring employment back and enhance Temple Bar’s urban environment. The culture cluster has played a truly innovative role in the strategy that was followed.

Urban rehabilitation has long been a major concern for academics, practitioners, and public authorities. The decline cycle of city centers in many countries, particularly in Europe and the United States, involves deteriorating conditions in housing, which lead to a decrease in the population, moving toward suburban areas in the well-known phenomenon called urban sprawl. Rehabilitation has difficulties in succeeding within a fully liberalized market, and usually requires public intervention at different levels to stimulate the renewal of housing, particularly in historical city centers. This paper reflects on the roles of public administration at different levels. It leverages the main conclusions on the Portuguese experience, whose lessons may be valuable to other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – With specific focus on sustainable development of the built environment in Cape Coast, Ghana, the purpose of this paper is to examine practical and conceptual barriers for local planning authorities advancing international outreach programmes based on a global discourse on heritage and heritage management. Design/methodology/approach – A discourse analysis was conducted on documents and programmes produced by international organisations and local planning authorities since 2000. Further qualitative data collection methods included 25 semi-structured interviews, literature and media review and on-site observations. Findings – The study shows that the dominant global discourse on heritage management being interconnected with tourism development is adopted by local planning authorities. However, the requirements to advance initiated urban redevelopment projects are neither adapted to the economic realities nor institutional capabilities of the local planning system. Instead of adjusting specific Ghanaian notions of heritage or local forms of heritage organisations, negotiating the discourse is potentially a more sustainable approach. Practical implications – The findings reveal important implications necessary to address from sustainable development perspective. The study can help practitioners to develop strategies based on local African planning contexts rather than western discourses on best practice. Originality/value – This study discusses the impact of an Authorised Heritage Discourse on local planning of the built environment, and the need to rescale and broaden the scope of such discourses to other levels than the dominating national/global. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities have undergone many changes since the 1950s, not least the expansion of urban areas to the detriment of the historic central areas, some of which have been left to decay. In Portugal the most visible results of this phenomenon are found in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto. To address this problem, the Portuguese Government conceived the first legal instrument for urban regeneration in 2004 which allows the local administrations to form publicly owned companies—urban regeneration companies (SRUs) to actively endorse urban regeneration in historic city centres. This paper discusses the activities of the Porto Vivo SRU, one of these companies created in Porto, in the context of the Portuguese milieu of urban regeneration and evaluates Porto Vivo's operation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Nowadays, in central urban areas, the social activities are generally materialized into passive interactions. Although the built environment has no direct influence on the quality, the content and the intensity of social interactions, the architects and planners can at least influence the potential for physical, visual and auditory contact among people - the so-called active interactions - usually, one of the most important characteristics of public spaces. The built framework of public urban spaces can provide a wide range of opportunities for the development of human relationships, so that the architectural design and the social processes are supporting one another. The perspective of sustainability for the. design of public spaces refers to three major aspects (eco-system, economy and society) and can be achieved with various temporary or permanent structures that separate and organize public spaces, giving them different social connotations (landscape design components, ecological structures with optimal geometries, etc.). Therefore, the use of hyperbolic geometries (for which the curvature is negative and the space created is open) seems appropriate because of the structural optimization that leads to a minimum material consumption. The hyperbolic structures can also help improve the overall image of public spaces, generating atypical areas with a significant impact (both visual and auditory) on the receiving public. The present paper illustrates several types of hyperbolic geometries optimized for different ecological structures (wood, bamboo, textiles, etc.) located in public spaces (public squares, parks, gardens). Our primary focus will be on the analysis of the main principles of sustainable development, their degree of compliance and on the active interactions between people - created by the implementation of such structures in public green areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a proposal for the placement of workshop modules for visual artists and artisans from lasi on the left banks of the Bahlui River. Here, the artists will conduct their creative activities and also fulfill the function of exhibition and sale. Ample decks link the modules between them and with the river, creating the premises for a wide range of open-air activities.The Bahlui River that flows through the city of lasi is currently the object of a major project for riverbed consolidation in order to prevent floods, thus offering the opportunity to rehabilitate this site with landscaping that would better integrate the river with the town. The path, on the banks of the river, on the section connecting the Podu Ros neighborhood to the Tudor Vladimirescu complex is rather monotonous. Apart from benefiting from the intense pedestrian traffic, the goal for the modules' placement is to achieve a space to mark the youthful character of the area, and that would constitute a landmark. The concept behind the project is the linden tree. The location's natural landscape is embellished by the presence of linden frees, so, with this project, it was intended to mimic and reflect this symbol in a modem manner, incorporating it in architecture with an exposed structure that interprets this pattern. The article presents an analysis of the location, a review of tendencies for landscape design on the banks of rivers and integration of natural motifs in architecture as well as a detailed presentation of the "Linden Romance" project, focusing on urban rehabilitation issues. Drawing from the successful experiences of other projects, the "Linden romance" project intends to give new life to an important path in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary landscape design does not have strictly an aesthetic component, thus being able to generate activities and events. A space defines its character through its associated meanings and through the ways in which interacts with people. The interstitial space or the interspace, defined by a densely built urban environment, can overcome the initial stage involving solely utilitarian and ecological aspects, and may become an urban landmark. The new space semantics for green areas require various interventions such as large-scale landscape designs (redefinition of urban axis and replacement of planted areas) or ephemeral designs (interventions by means of spatial structures with a limited existence). The transient spatial structures, used in landscape designs, are complementary compositional elements that rely on imagination, on cancellation of perceptive conventions and on feedback from the recipient. This paper focuses on a case study in Iaşi, for a rehabilitation proposal concerning the existing green square between three buildings of the "Gh. Asachi" Technical University of Iaşi. The multi-disciplinary approach will try to correlate the art of space design (landscape, urbanism, architecture) with the latest trends in visual arts, sociology and psychology of space [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]