The SDGs as a useful tool in vernacular architecture management: The case of “17 objectives and a map”.

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) contribute to unite cities, organizations, local governments, and people networks, sharing transformation policies and challenges for the future of the planet. At present, cultural heritage is widely recognised as a fundamental pillar in the achievement of the SDGs in the coming years. Focused on people and their work to place culture, education, heritage, art and social development as a focal point, a project has been developed by the hand of the Jaume I University (Castellón). "17 objectives and a map” is a project based on the 17 SDGs, wich emphasizes the importance of traditional crafts, construction techniques and the heritage conservation to achieve the global goals. The history of construction shows that vernacular architecture have always been creative in adapting and optimizing buildings using the local resources available to fulfill people’s needs in the best way. In this process -in a natural and sustainable way- climatic, economic, social and cultural factors have been taken into account. During the first phase of the proyect (years 2020 and 2021) workshops where heritage communities exchanged experiences and good practices improving mutual learning, were developed in a playful and fluid way, identifying and extracting SDG messages from different projects. With the help of specific designed toolkits, heritage communities became aware of the importance of sustainable actions to transform the heritage future. After several months of workshop, the results of this first phase served the participants to review their projects from an SDG perspective and to restructure some points of them in favor of a more sustainable future. Also, the results constituted an excellent starting point to work, in a pioneering way, in the field of the SDGs from a heritage perspective.