Segovia (EFE).- The fifteen World Heritage Cities of Spain currently face some common challenges in their management, which revolve around the difficulty of maintaining the balance between being open-air museums and cities inhabited by their neighbors.
With the aim of analyzing these issues, the conference “Inhabited Cities. Urban life and sustainability in World Heritage Cities” with presentations by various experts and the participation of representatives of the fifteen cities that are part of the group.
The mayoress of Segovia, Clara Martín (i), listens to the intervention of the Councilor for Urban Planning of Santiago, Mercedes Rosón, at the inauguration this Monday of the conference “Inhabited Cities. Life and sustainability in Heritage Cities”. EFE / Pablo Martin
As the expert who gave the inaugural presentation, Juan Luis de las Rivas, Ph.D. in Architecture, pointed out in statements to EFE, the key to the prosperity of these cities is their “resilience” or ability to adapt in a critical context.
Mass tourism, the difficulty of access to housing by residents, the vulnerability of local commerce or the new changes in mobility are some of the threats that loom over these towns and that will be put on the table in the form of debates between today and tomorrow with these conferences.
concentrated tourism
The concentration of a large number of visitors in a few enclaves of the city often causes problems for neighborhood coexistence, threatens the sustainability of the development of the municipality and can even cause damage to the destinations.
As De las Rivas has pointed out, one of the keys is to offer quality “urban information” and other offers that are different from the traditional ones, and even use new technologies to guide visitors effectively.
Regarding other more drastic measures such as the tourist tax, he acknowledges that they are not for all places, since controlling access to an entire city is very difficult and taxing only certain aspects such as accommodation can be detrimental in cities like Segovia, where the percentage of people who spend the night is already low.
housing problems
The increase in prices for the rental and sale of homes, driven on many occasions by the growing supply of tourist apartments, is another of the challenges of cities declared World Heritage Sites such as Ibiza or Santiago de Compostela.
In this sense, with the approval of the new Housing Law, an opportunity for regulation opens up through the declaration of stressed areas where the uncontrolled increase in prices can be limited.
The Councilor for Urban Planning and Housing of Santiago de Compostela, Mercedes Rosón, has indicated in statements to the media that it is necessary to analyze each city individually, but in the case of its town, its historic area is susceptible to application since it is the most stressed in the autonomous community.
The mayoress of Segovia and vice-president of the Group of World Heritage Cities, Clara Martín, has also recognized this as one of the biggest challenges to be addressed in her city and has given some of her housing rehabilitation projects in historic areas.
“They have shown that, effectively, rehabilitating housing within the world heritage we generate these residential areas and increase the number of residents in those neighborhoods,” he explained.
weakened trade
Another issue of concern is that of trade “as part of the vitality of Historical Ensembles” and, on this matter, Juan Luis de las Rivas has acknowledged in his conversation with EFE that the protection of this trade is an “issue delicate” because they are “private initiatives”.
He advocates for the creation of “unitary management business areas,” known as “open malls,” run by trade associations that have “a single voice” and “some managerial ability” to collaborate on strategies and campaigns. .
The challenge of mobility and adaptation to changes such as the obligation to establish a low emission zone in cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants is another of the issues that will be analyzed these days in Segovia.
Regarding the low emission zones, De las Rivas has opined that in many of the World Heritage Cities there are no major traffic problems due to the difficulty of accessing the historic center.
But, in any case, when implementing it, it has assessed the need to “regulate the issue of logistics and supply more demandingly” with aid so that local businessmen can access low-emission vehicles and that these are not see themselves “penalized” for this type of measure. EFE
The entry Four challenges and possible solutions for World Heritage Cities was first published in EFE Noticias.