Festivalization and historic building adaptation in the Merchant City, Glasgow

For thousands of years, cities have evolved with changing needs. Cities are like living organisms, which are exposed to transformations as a result of changing needs and requirements. City centres are one of the attractive, essential, and vital parts of the city that are also affected by these changes. Specifically, historic city centres, which refer to the origins of the city, will be discussed within this context. Urban design aims to shape our cities with better quality and provide better places for everyday life. In addition, urban regeneration can be utilized as generic public policy for solving problems and providing physical improvements for these cities. Although the problems that emerge in each city are similar, sometimes they change circumstantially. As a result, the planning, implementation, and management of urban regeneration projects as well as their sustainability can produce serious complications. This article focuses on the process of urban regeneration, historic city centres, and the Mediterranean region and aims to develop an applicable regeneration framework for historic city centres limited to the Mediterranean region. First, the main problems of these cities are described. Next, characteristics of historic city centres and associated problems of the Mediterranean region are explained. Subsequently, the concept of urban regeneration is clarified, and the processes involved are discussed. Finally, an applicable urban regeneration framework for historic Mediterranean city centres, developed by the authors, is explained with the goal to reduce social segregation while incorporating the contributions of views from both local inhabitants and stakeholders in the process. The methodology of the overall research presented in this article is mainly based on a critical review of primary and secondary documents from the literature through a comparative and exploratory approach.

The conservation of historic buildings and urban environments can have the potential to improve the quality of life, stimulate economic development and reduce carbon emissions from energy consumption. However, given increasing expectations of indoor thermal comfort and an increasing dependency on modern living technologies, energy consumption in the urban historic environment is expected to rise. This paper examines the retrofitting of windows to historic buildings and issues of energy consumption and carbon emission in Lhasa's historic city centre, focusing on the relationship between energy use and window retrofitting. First, the thermal performance of a traditional Tibetan building in Lhasa is simulated and examined. Second, four window types for retrofitting are evaluated through computer modelling and their impacts on energy consumption are compared. Finally, the energy demand and carbon emission of the whole historic city centre with various window types are estimated and compared. In terms of energy efficiency and historic preservation, current single-layered window retrofitting practices perform badly, while windows with wooden frames and secondary glazing may achieve better performance. The approach offers the opportunity to halve the energy consumption and carbon emissions in the Lhasa historic city centre.

The renovation, rehabilitation and adaptation of Historical Heritage Buildings in Public Ownership. The case of historical buildings of exceptional importance in Vienna

In Spain, fifteen cities have been declared World Heritage Cities by UNESCO. This implies a responsibility to conserve all the heritage wealth of these places. However, what is the point of heritage if it cannot be known and visited? In order to be able to do this for all people, in equal and inclusive conditions, it is essential to consider Accessibility and Universal Design principles. This is a challenge that requires a personalised study in places that were precisely built with the idea of being inaccessible. In particular, the study of the urban fabric and pedestrian itineraries are the determining spaces that this article develops. The aim of this study is to determine the keys and possible guidelines for the definition of urban accessibility indicators in the routes of historic city centres. For this purpose, significant routes have been sought in historic centres from the accessibility point of view: areas of high pedestrian traffic (in many cases for tourist reasons). Thus, six of the fifteen historic quarters of the World Heritage Cities in Spain have been selected for the study, with examples of good accessibility practices and difficulties that can be identified in their itineraries. For this analysis, an initial study of the existing documentation on the subject (secondary information sources) is carried out, in addition to a direct analysis (primary information source) of the graphic documentation compiled in each of these places. Subsequently, a complementary analysis will be made of some examples of good practice in pedestrian routes in historic city centres in cities in other countries. On the basis of this preliminary analysis, a comparison will be made to establish common points and singularities among the different case studies first, and then with other cities. This diagnosis provides results that are identified as "keys to consider in the intervention on pedestrian routes in historic centres". These keys not only address issues of mobility, but also location, orientation, understanding, etc., thus addressing a holistic consideration of accessibility as a fundamental principle for all people, and in particular for the elderly sector, which is one of the groups that is clearly growing and which, without necessarily having to have a severe or recognised disability, needs an accessible environment that is easy to use. As a main conclusion, it can be said that the results of this study do not only have an internal application for these cities but can be perfectly extrapolated as a basis for the elaboration of specific indicators for any historic city centre in any city in the world, considering the necessary adaptation to the specific characteristics of each city.

The historic city centre of Lhasa has preserved special types of historic and cultural heritage for various reasons, including strong religious beliefs, preservation policy, and slow globalisation. In addition to visual cultural heritage, the sound environment represents a cultural heritage that requires preservation. This paper presents an analysis of the sound environment of Lhasa's historic city centre based on field investigations and soundwalk measurements during the tourism high season. First, Lhasa's historic urban form and cultural background are introduced. Second, the relationship between the historic urban space and the sounds is investigated according to the sound sources. The sound taxonomy and the cultural meanings of these sounds are examined and identified. Third, the sound environments are evaluated from the perspectives of sound sources and sound changes with time and frequency. The sound pressure level is found to be high in the historic centre, which might affect the sound sources associated with cultural identities. Additionally, significant variations within the centre—both spatial and temporal—that are indentified in the sound pressure levels and spectrums are reflected in the characteristics of local daily life and social activities. Finally, comparisons are made between Lhasa's historic centre and a number of other historic centres and squares. Possible implications of the results and principles of soundscape preservation are also discussed, based on the case study of Lhasa.

Historic City Center Urban Regeneration: Case of Malaga and Kemeraltı, Izmir

This document is a Show the relationship between the components of the Morphological city contents (form) and functions of traditional activities in historical city centers. The research problem relating to non-clarity of the priorities of Development in urban renewal of historic city centers. In this part, the intervention in methodologies that define the nature of the changes in the morphological form of built environment in Historical Cities Centers. And in this relationship effect on continuance of traditional functions activities in historical city centers. Search assumes that the system (individuals and institutions - legislation) controlled on the morphology of historic city centers and determine the nature of their transformations, and play a more important role in providing an integrated morphological urban form of historical city centers visions. Variables have been studied within the core focus on the activities of the intervention (methodologies with the foundations of the theory and practical) and draw the indicators and their application to the historic center of the city of Najaf and propose methodologies best suited to deal with that status. Where you play the following aspects: (individuals and institutions), (legislation), the most important role in providing integrated vision of the city influence and control in one way or another in Transformations morphology historic city centers within methodologies intervention.

PurposeThis paper aims to monitor the urban landscape through the perceptions of residents and visitors, identifying features that cause visual impacts and providing insights for landscape management decision-makers. Captured impressions about the city whilst moving around are important to assess the satisfaction of city residents and city visitors through key elements, such as directional signage, outdoor advertising, restaurants’ outdoor terrace furniture, urban furniture, green spaces, traffic, cleaning, pedestrian areas, visitor flow and conservation of monuments, museums and buildings.Design/methodology/approachA survey was applied in the historical Porto city centre (Portugal) to understand residents’ and visitors’ perceptions of the city landscape and assess the differences between these two groups. Cronbach’s alpha was used to assess the reliability of the constructs (dimensions) of urban landscape. Non-parametric Mann-Whitney test was used to find significant differences in the perceptions of residents and visitors.FindingsThe results suggest significant differences in the perceptions. Residents value more two constructs of the landscape (heritage conservation and transport mobility) whilst visitors value more other two (pedestrian mobility and aesthetic quality). It is showed that residents have a strong sense of place and are concerned with the conservation of historical heritage. Visitors are more concerned with dimensions intrinsically related to tourism.Originality/valueThis research allowed to fill a gap found in the literature, namely, the importance of considering the perceptions of different actors in the urban landscape monitoring. These results are an important contribution for local authorities to understand the value of urban landscape elements from the perspective of residents and visitors. This study opened the possibility of comparing the results from different historical cities centres.

This article analyzes the visual and textual representations of the "historical centre" of Bologna before and after 196% the year when the first of the city’s celebrated plans for the preservation of the ancient urban fabric were approved. In spite of the attempts made by architects and planners to precisely and "technically" define the object of the plans, the notion of "historical city centre" remained a vague and ambiguous one. Conflicting images of history, tradition, and centrality shaped the preservation policies, and were in turn reshaped by them. The visual, historical, and political discourse behind the Bologna plans intentionally brought together a multiplicity of local and non-local cultures, resulting in an overall reinvention of both a local identity and an idea of the city of the past.

Satellite radar interferometric techniques are non-invasive remote sensing methods without material contact with manufacts and with high data sampling, so that they can be profitably used for measuring and periodically monitoring millimetric deformations of architectural structures without affecting their integrity. In particular, this work proposes a procedure for detecting and monitoring ground movements based on Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) data elaborated through Persistent Scatterers Interferometry (PSI) technique over historical built-up areas. We exploit PSI data extracted from medium resolution Sentinel-1 satellite images acquired in the time span 2014–2021 to analyse deformation patterns and potential instability of single building at local scale, with particular attention to Cultural Heritage structures. The analysis was performed on two test cities: Florence city, whose historic centre enclosed within the avenues that follow the old medieval walls is recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 1982, and Lucca city, whose historic centre was submitted to the UNESCO Tentative List in 2006. Results demonstrate the potential use of remote sensing satellite technologies in measuring deformation phenomena on historical buildings, especially in areas affected by hydrogeological hazards, such as subsidence and slow-moving landslides. In particular, the outcomes of such PSI monitoring could be a useful tool to be considered for authorities in charge of environmental planning in addressing urban zoning regulations and prescribing maintenance and improvement of the heritage and historic city centre resilience.KeywordsRadar interferometryPersistent scatterersMonitoringHistoric city centreUNESCO

When constructing a metro alignment under a historical city centre, it is important to generate a cost-effective path while maintaining a minimum distance between the alignment and historical buildings. This paper describes a simple methodology for generating a set of good alternative solutions. It is based on the use of Voronoi diagrams. The method was applied to data from the city of Sevilla.

Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals apply to all individuals, including those with disabilities. Currently, newly designed spaces and buildings in Poland meet accessibility requirements for people with disabilities. However, the situation differs in historic city centres and historic buildings. The aim of this study is to investigate the accessibility of service premises located in historic areas for people with mobility impairments. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities identifies barriers as a key factor limiting the full participation of these individuals in social life, serving as the starting point for this research. The city of Lublin was selected as a case study. Methods included an analysis of the accessibility of service premises in terms of architectural barriers. Results were illustrated with photographs and expressed in percentages. The findings indicate that individuals with disabilities encounter significant difficulties in using the majority of gastronomic premises. Furthermore, the presence of numerous barriers in the historic city centres was noted, which hinders access for disabled tourists.

As mudanças climáticas impactam a vida das cidades. Eventos extremos como o aumento da temperatura, secas e enchentes ameaçam também o patrimônio cultural. Nos centros históricos tombados, as enxurradas e alagamentos vêm provocando muitas patologias no casario e no arruamento. O sistema de drenagem urbana tradicional tem se mostrado ineficiente, além das dificuldades de ampliação desta rede diante de prerrogativas de respeito às preexistências. Este estudo procura utilizar os espaços livres públicos das cidades tombadas como potencializadores da drenagem urbana, através dos conceitos de infraestrutura verde. No primeiro momento é apresentada a relação entre as mudanças climáticas e os transtornos à paisagem cultural e como a infraestrutura verde pode contribuir para a resiliência dos centros urbanos tombados. Após são analisados os sistemas de espaços livres públicos passíveis desta aplicação tendo como estudo de caso a cidade de Laguna/SC. Como resultado observou-se que os espaços livres públicos devem transmutar sua função meramente cênica para a função infraestrutural e, desta forma, serão vitais para os centros urbanos, pois além de valorizar a paisagem, também aumentarão a eficácia da drenagem sem impactar ou desconsiderar a geomorfologia e a morfologia urbana existentes.

Lorca, the city centre of which had been one of the first in Spain to be declared an artistic historic site (1964), is an earthquake prone city.This is the reason why its unreinforced masonry vernacular residential architecture includes reinforcement features (quoins, pegs or ring beams) reducing the seismic vulnerability and improving, consequently, their seismic behaviour.Nevertheless, the seismic response of those buildings to the Lorca May 11th 2011 earthquake was very heterogeneous; it is important to point out that even some of them were demolished in the aftermath of this event.Given that the seismicity and construction and geometric characteristics (load-bearing walls, floors, materials, height, façade layout, etc.) are similar in the historic centre, a comparative study of the vulnerability of a sample of buildings with diverse observed damage degrees has been carried out in order to understand why their seismic response has been different.Results showed that notwithstanding the influence of construction techniques, the level of building maintenance (masonry and roofs) is a determinant factor in lowering the vulnerability of unreinforced masonry structures in historic city centres and in improving their seismic behaviour.

Historical city centres play a crucial role in reducing car use, especially when many residents, jobs and economic activities remain concentrated there. Historical city centres also have a higher complexity than suburbs, with respect to the factors influencing car use and related policy responses. Therefore, the reduction of car use in historical city centres may require a more tailor-made retrofit through an approach that integrates spatial planning with transport and heritage conservation. This study examines the factors influencing car use in the historical city centre of Beijing. The results suggest that planning could play a more efficient role in reducing car use by promoting public transport networks and services, while increasing density in a dense historic city centre could have little influence. Instruments designed to intervene in car use should also take into account increasing household incomes and the ageing society as factors relevant to the old city centre. The paper also proposes a spatial planning framework that integrates transport and heritage conservation for the reduction of car use in the historical city centre of Beijing.