Vítor Murtinho

‘the Management Indicator’ From The Point Of View Of An Urban Assessment

The ‘Management indicator’ is one of the less prioritized indicators when we analyze the existing urban sustainable assessment methods. Nevertheless, and according to the opinion of some experts, this indicator should be one of the main as it deals with the involvement of local entities (communities, agencies and government) working together to improve the public services and quality of life of the inhabitants of a specific area. It recognizes the uniqueness of each place, ensuring that the community facilities are properly maintained and are appropriate to the existing population density (PD) of the area, so that a sense of ownership and responsibility is promoted. The main contribution of this paper is to give a complete panorama of the analysis and evaluation for the management indicator, as well as emphasize the importance of this indicator when we are making a sustainable assessment for urban areas or when we are trying to rehabilitate existing neighborhoods.

Conceptual model for the Sustainable Rehabilitation and Management of European Medium Size Inner Cities. A Study Case – Coimbra, Portugal

AbstractThis paper analyzes the causes of the depopulation of urban centers in European medium-size cities, and presents a conceptual model to address this problem, considering that integrated rehabilitation is necessary to attract new inhabitants, based on the retrofitting of buildings from a sustainable point of view, by developing the concept of a new model of city management based in the generation of subsectors in each city quarter and erecting multipurpose infrastructure buildings that provide the sustainable requirements of that population sector. To illustrate its application to European medium-size cities, the model is applied to the city center of Coimbra, Portugal, including a critical characterization of the current situation, identifying the sociocultural and functional requirements for these neighborhoods, highlighting the feasibility of the conceptual model.

Seguindo o fio de Ariadne: A Cidade Universitária de Coimbra como património glocal

Este artigo aborda as linhas tematicas de caracter internacional que estiveram relacionados com a arquitetura da CUC, aferindo a sua condicao de patrimonio glocal, enquanto palco de encontro de uma cultura local com uma global. Adicionalmente, pretende ser um contributo na divulgacao e na atualizacao de conteudos existentes no Fundo CAPOCUC no AUC, atraves da identificacao de documentos realizada pelo cruzamento de dados constantes em oficios trocados entre a comissao de obras e outras entidades.

University City of Coimbra: ‘tabula rasa’ as a project methodology

Portugal and its image experienced a re-foundation process in the 30s and 40s of the 20th century promoted for ideological propaganda, which expressed itself as a profound regulation of urban intervention, lead by the Ministry of Public Works and Communications. Simultaneously, the University of Coimbra, a national symbol and an overseas cultural exchange platform, had to follow that change for modernization, which represented the national capacity of entrepreneurship and evidenced the nation’s strength and power on the international political stage and also its global influence. The upper part of Coimbra, the Alta, suffered a significant transformation due to a process occurring from 1934 to 1975, manifesting it by turning into a mono-functional citadel. These transformations started in the 40’s, when several demolitions, determined in the master plan, marked the beginning of the works. The aim of this paper is to highlight the project’s purposes that were used throughout the process of transformations from that period of that part of the Alta in the University City of Coimbra (UCC), taking into account the role that public space assumed in the new urban spatial organization. Through analyses of the master plans of the University City works, it is possible to verify the connection and fusion between the university citadel and the city, that is, between the university space and its urban context. While, in Europe, tabula rasa was a consequence of the destruction caused by war, in Portugal it was a project methodology to achieve the necessary space for construction. That was quite evident in this case, where the “blank slate”, so precious for the creative process of the Modern Movement, was made possible due to an assumption of power by the state.

The past in permanent construction: heritage in transformation: the case of the University of Coimbra: Alta and Sofia World Heritage site

Four years after the decision to inscribe the University of Coimbra – Alta and Sofia on the World Heritage List, it is time to evaluate the changes that have occurred, or are still occurring, in the context of the renovation of its urban space and the context of the city’s sociocultural dynamics. In that sense, this paper will analyse Coimbra’s transformations and the processes leading to them, taking into account three strategic vectors in order to achieve an urban management and its sustainable development: the protection of heritage, the Historic Urban Landscape and urban development. The University of Coimbra assumed its leading role in the dynamic of the conservation of the prebuilt heritage of the classified area and the municipality assumed its role in the protection zone. In this framework for the urban transformation process it is possible to conclude that the best way to keep up to date any sustainable heritage is to use it within the territorial cultural matrix. This World Heritage status could lead to a real conservation process of the existent heritage and to a sustainable balance between urban management and its integrated development leading to a better quality of life for the city.Four years after the decision to inscribe the University of Coimbra – Alta and Sofia on the World Heritage List, it is time to evaluate the changes that have occurred, or are still occurring, in the context of the renovation of its urban space and the context of the city’s sociocultural dynamics. In that sense, this paper will analyse Coimbra’s transformations and the processes leading to them, taking into account three strategic vectors in order to achieve an urban management and its sustainable development: the protection of heritage, the Historic Urban Landscape and urban development. The University of Coimbra assumed its leading role in the dynamic of the conservation of the prebuilt heritage of the classified area and the municipality assumed its role in the protection zone. In this framework for the urban transformation process it is possible to conclude that the best way to keep up to date any sustainable heritage is to use it within the territorial cultural matrix. This World Heritage status could lead to a real conservation process of the existent heritage and to a sustainable balance between urban management and its integrated development leading to a better quality of life for the city.

Chronicle of a death foretold: or when a National Monument fails its status

The main goal of every heritage application is to achieve a nomination status to safeguard a property and guarantee its protection so that future generations may inherit some important values that contributed to creating a collective identity. However, that legacy depends on how and what should be protected, which implies a previous selection, which means a policy. To achieve this, any approach to classify a property should be based on a collective reflection about its significance. So, a patrimonial nomination is a juridical and legal status that attributes a value to a place as “heritage”. Nevertheless, that title may not be sufficient to guarantee the property’s most appropriate recognition, understanding or even appreciation of those who manage it, who use it.The aim of this article is to analyse the quality of the declassification decision approved concerning S. Domingos Church in Coimbra. It had been a National Monument since 1910, with a part included within the limits of the property nominated World Heritage by UNESCO, on the 22nd of June, 2013. To achieve that purpose, this work intends to analyse the chronicles of the technical and the historical process by examining them in relation to some pertinent texts that have contributed to the evolution of the concepts and the best practices in the field of heritage, as well as the national and international legal norms and regulations in use.It is not this paper’s intention to judge the decisions that were taken and justified technically and then accepted by those with the highest political responsibility. But it is this work’s intention to study this process so that heritage players may be better prepared to confront and deal with similar situations in the future. Heritage is a profitable resource that should be promoted and it is the community, in this case, the global one, that could lose the attributed value status by a long-predicted death. In this sense, it is our understanding that the most responsible stakeholders, such as the community itself, should be more vigilant for the future, because its common responsibility to pass on a value that was important for the creation of their cultural identity in the past, that it is still important and should, presumably, be important tomorrow.