Topical Seminar, Urban Regeneration in The Americas: The Conservation and Development of Urban Heritage Areas

The research and practice of urban heritage preservation is rapidly moving to a new paradigm focused on the sustainable use of urban heritage sites for social and economic development. City governments and investors increasingly use adaptive rehabilitation approaches to put the urban heritage to contemporary uses. This tend responds to multiple interrelated factors including the growing interest of urban communities to preserve their intangible and tangible heritage that sometimes conflicts with the growing demand for residential, retail, craft production, and office space in historic neighborhoods of cities of all sizes. These issues are at the cutting edge of the research and practice of urban heritage conservation, city planning, urban design and architecture, making their study suited for a multi-disciplinary approach. This seminar focused on the Historic Center of Cartagena, with students conducting research on adaptive reuse, policy, planning, and public spaces that touch base on the intangible and tangible traits of heritage.