Technological innovations in the realm of the management of the Built Heritage

Summary

The aim of the valuation and protection tool proposed is to adapt proposals for the cataloguing of the built and non-built heritage (buildings and open spaces) to the conceptual procedures that are being developed for the Culture Department of the Basque Government within the framework of the Cultural Heritage Strategic Plan.

In this way, the intention is to ensure that the methods used in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz are coherent and compatible with the innovative methods being applied by the Basque Government. But, even more important, we wish to overcome a conceptual view of protected assets as monuments with an intrinsic and isolated heritage value.

Plano detalle del ensanche de Vitoria-Gasteiz

To do this, on the one hand, we have adapted an analytical method that does not consider just one value, but several, relating to aesthetics, material culture and symbolism. These values are not applied to the characterisation of a building, but of the relevant parts of same. In the end, it will be these parts that are protected, leaving the rest of the building unprotected but guaranteeing that in order to ensure its preservation, it will be necessary to take into consideration all its parts as a whole.

On the other hand, the relationship that exists between protected buildings and the systems which they form part of is taken into consideration. In this way, a value we consider to be significant is introduced, namely, the way in which the role of an asset in the perceived urban image is measured. To do this, the individual valuation of each component element of the assets is combined with its potential valuation as a part, if appropriate, of the edge of a protectable open space.

Lastly, we have attempted to maximise the objectivity of the results. Assuming that standardised criteria for the valuation can only be applied in extremely uniform socio-cultural contexts, we have aimed to extend those established by the Basque Government to the urban situation of Vitoria-Gasteiz, in which the Ensanche constitutes a good testbed.

State

Finished 1st stage