A Tool for a Shared Decision-making about Urban Developments on Historic Areas

The UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape is revising the concept of protected urban areas and its related management approach (UNESCO, 2011). In fact the traditional West European conservationist object-based and top-down approach is shifting to landscape-based, including the social dimension of (historic) cities (Guzman, Pereira Roders & Colenbrander, 2014) and the involvement of the local community in the decision-making. The new approach should be constructed from experts and decision-makers with the local community and propose measures and alternative scenarios in order to monitor the impact of urban development not only on the architectural fabric but also on the social one (Guzman, Pereira Roders & Colenbrander, 2014). But is these new approach really implemented by monitoring urban renewal and developments projects? Gentrification, resettlement or privatizations of public spaces are frequently occurring due to urban renewals in historic urban areas. Often citizens do not have the opportunity to be aware of urban development project before impacts as commodification and exploitation are occurring. These phenomena still occurring are the result of a topdown approach at international, national and local level, which is looking at the urban heritage as an object and not considering inhabitant’s life and their involvement in the decision-making regarding changes of the built environment. Who is dealing with the design and conservation of urban spaces is modifying socio-spatial structures and social relations and has the responsibility to build up an open discussion about his decisions. The research wants to investigate the possibility to develop a tool, which could enable the local community to democratically assess urban development going on in urban historical areas. The tool has to be able to foresee and avoid this kind of social impact of urban renewals or conservation scheme in urban historic areas through a democratic and participated assessment.