Abstract
Abstract. The Latin-American cities declared by UNESCO World Heritage Sites display a problem of generalized deterioration of its vernacular or environmental architecture due to, among others, a lack of maintenance. This is aggravated by the existing legal vacuum in planning for its historical centers, resulting in irreversible losses in their heritage buildings. It is proposed to involve the community in the maintenance interventions to counteract the lack of maintenance and at the same time contribute to improve the level of livability and to create a collective awareness in the community about the care of its heritage. To achieve this goal, the university of Cuenca, has implemented the so-called “maintenance campaigns”, through which the preventive conservation phases proposed by ICOMOS (2003) are supported methodologically from a perspective that combines varied techniques (quantitative, qualitative), giving priority to operational workshops and collective construction of knowledge and action. The experience in the traditional ‘Las Herrerías’ street (case study), evidenced in a short period of time an improvement of the physical conditions of the buildings and of the quality of life of its residents, and furthermore motivated the long-term activation of comprehensive and inclusive conservation processes that lead to the valuation and preservation of heritage by all involved. The participation of the community in the whole process through a “minga” of multiple actors guarantees a successful intervention. This initiative could be successfully adapted to other heritage sites of similar characteristics.
Highlights
There are about 40 Latin-American historical cities declared by UNESCO World Heritage Sites (UNESCO, 2018)
The maintenance campaign carried out in 20 heritage buildings in the “Las Herrerías” street responds to a methodological process in which in each preventive conservation phase (ICOMOS, 2003): analysis, diagnosis, therapy and control, the approach of the participatory methodologies was integrated to emphasize the work with the network of actors (RedCIMAS, 2015), mainly the owners of the intervened buildings, in order to strengthen the trust between them, the internalization of the process and the awareness about the care and sustainability of heritage
The minga of multiple actors or stakeholders has allowed the maintenance of 20 vernacular heritage buildings, with the consequent quality of life improvement of those living there
Summary
There are about 40 Latin-American historical cities declared by UNESCO World Heritage Sites (UNESCO, 2018). The phrase “prevention is better than cure” (Monumentenwacht Vlaanderen, 2018) is a statement coming from the world of medicine, which in the world of architecture and built heritage, emphasizes that the early identification of maintenance actions could reduce or prevent important interventions that put at risk the heritage and its integrity or that require in the future large sums of money (García, Cardoso & Van Balen, 2015) (Van Balen & Vandesande, 2013) This would especially affect minor or vernacular architecture, which without being of monumental character, constitutes a legacy that generates appropriation and identity in the communities
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