Cuenca, Ecuador

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Short description

In Cuenca, due to the complexity of heritage understanding in the urban area, the focus of applying the HUL notion has been building an interdisciplinary research team, including experts in environment, economy, anthropology, archaeology, geology, architecture and sociology. Besides, citizen´s participation has been the key factor for making the Action Proposal of a Visionary Strategic Plan.

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Population

580,706 (2015);

Land area

70, 59 km² (Cuenca parish); Historic Area (224ha), listed as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in December 1999.

Key challenges

Extreme urban development; socioeconomic changes (gentrification); emigration and immigration; heritage buildings threatened; tourism; modern heritage recognized in El Ejido; real estate investment; mobility and traffic; and, proliferation of poor quality contemporary architecture.

Timeline

April 2012, HUL research line created at vlirCPM project of the University of Cuenca. March 2014 – on-going, HUL project establishment.

Heritage Protection

International, National and Local regulation.

Nomination file. Advisory Body Evaluation. Historic Centre of Santa Ana de Los Ríos de Cuenca (Ecuador) N^o 863. N.p., 1998. Web

Ley del Patrimonio Cultural en Ecuador (19/11/2004)

Reforma, actualización, complementación y codificación de la ordenanza que sanciona el plan de ordenamiento territorial del Cantón Cuenca. Determinación para el uso y ocupación del suelo urbano (mayo/2003)

Ordenanza para la gestión y conservación de áreas históricas y patrimoniales del Cantón Cuenca (febrero/2010)

Ordenanza que determina y regula el uso y ocupación del suelo en el área de El Ejido (Área de influencia y zona tampón del Centro Histórico) (junio/2010)

Reforma, actualización, complementación y codificación de la ordenanza que sanciona el plan de ordenamiento territorial del Cantón Cuenca

Main Partners

University of Cuenca [leading partner]

WHITRAP

Municipality of Cuenca

University of Seville

Main activities

[2012-2013] Top line of research “Historic Urban Landscape” at vlirCPM research project

[2014] Master thesis by María Eugenia Siguencia. Historic Urban Landscape units for the Historic City Center of Cuenca and its Buffer Zones (September)

[2014] Governmental scholarship to PhD Julia Rey Pérez from Universidad de Sevilla. The intervention in the heritage buildings and the landscape. The application of the figure of Historic Urban Landscapes as a tool for sustainable development

[2014] Conferences on HUL notion. Understanding the concept at a local level. Guest lecture: Dora Arízaga. Local lectures: Sebastián Astudillo, Julia Rey Perez and María Eugenia Siguencia (May)

[2014] Workshop on HUL. Participation of Local administration representatives and experts from Universidad de Cuenca (May) [pdf 12mb 2014-may-workshop]

[2014] First visit of the expert Ron van Oers and public lecture on the application of HUL around the world (September) [more info (2)] [pdf 4mb informe-visita-ron-van-oers]

[2014] Start of the Project: Reassessment of the Cultural and Natural Heritage of the city of Cuenca from the strategies of sustainable development supported in the figure of the Historic Urban Landscape (PUH_C). Funding: Dirección de Investigación de la Universidad de Cuenca (DIUC); Project Directors: Sebastián Astudillo y Julia Rey Pérez.

[2015] Workshop and guest lectures: Carlos García and Plácido González. Support on the development of the HUL research Project in Cuenca (March)

[2015] WHITRAP Pilot city (May)

[2015] Visioning Conference (May). [Facebook] [Youtube] [Twitter] [UNESCO] [more info (1)] [more info (2)]

[2015] Cuenca- HUL research project in Kuwait City (Kuwait). International Conference on Urban Conservation: role of the Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape in safeguarding modern heritage in the Arab States (December)

[2015] Cuenca- HUL research project in Hangzhou (China). International Conference on “Culture for Sustainable Cities” (December)

[2016] Cuenca HUL research project in Taipei (Taiwan). International Conference “Inheriting the city, advancing understandings of Urban Heritage” (April)

[2016] Workshop and guest lecture: Ana Pereira Roders. Identifying heritage and relevant visuals in the modern area of El Ejido

Main resources

Reader Visionary Conference

Visionary Conference program

Master thesis by Maria Eugenia Siguencia A.

Postdoctoral project by Julia Rey Pérez (2014)

Report on the Workshop May 2014

Visionary Conference report

Visionary Conference outputs [pdf]

Actas Visioning Proceedings [pdf 22mb proceedings-conferencia-visionaria_com]

Direcciones de correo para que se pongan en contacto con gente del proyecto

HUL Cuenca

Visualising Cuenca [email 1] [email 2]

Visioning Conference video

Closing ceremony Visioning Conference

Memoria Ron van Oers

Ejido Sessions about HUL

Rey Pérez, J., González Martínez, P. (2018): Lights and shadows over the Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape: ‘managing change’ in Ballarat and Cuenca through a radical approach focused on values and authenticity. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 24 (1), pp. 101-116. Article in Press. DOI: 10.1080/13527258.2017.1362572

Rey-Perez, J., Siguencia Ávila, M.E. (2017): Historic urban landscape: an approach for sustainable management in Cuenca (Ecuador). Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, 7 (3), pp. 308-327. DOI: 10.1108/JCHMSD-12-2016-0064

Rey Pérez, Julia (Ed.) (2017): The application of the recommendation on Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) in Cuenca – Ecuador. A new approach to cultural and natural heritage. Cuenca: Universidad de Cuenca.

[Poster] Rey Pérez, Julia (2017): The importance of the role of the Municipality in the implementation of the Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape. The case of Cuenca, Ecuador. In Historic Urban Landscape Forum. The Barlett School of Architecture University College London, London (UK), 22-23 March, 2017.

The HUL Guidebook: A practical guide to UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (2016)

REY PÉREZ, Julia; ASTUDILLO CORDERO, Sebastián (2016): La construcción del paisaje desde una mirada interdisciplinar y ciudadana. El caso de Cuenca, Ecuador. En Conferencia Visionaria. Cuenca: Universidad de Cuenca, pp. 61- 71.

SIGUENCIA ÁVILA, María Eugenia; REY PÉREZ, Julia (2016). Heritage Values Protection, from the monument to the urban dimension. Case study: The Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca. The Historic Environment: policy and practice [en línea]. 2016, vol. 7 (2)

REY PÉREZ, Julia; AUQUILLA, Silvia (2015): Revalorización del Patrimonio cultural y natural de la ciudad de Cuenca a partir de estrategias de desarrollo sostenible apoyadas en la figura del Paisaje Urbano Histórico. En Memorias LLactaCamp 2.0. Cuenca: Universidad de Cuenca.

REY PÉREZ, Julia (2014): La figura del Paisaje Urbano Histórico como herramienta de intervención en la ciudad histórica de Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca, Ecuador. En VV.AA (2014): Actas del IV Simposio virtual internacional “Valor y sugestión del patrimonio artístico y cultural: arte, sostenibilidad y docencia universitaria”, perteneciente al VIII Congreso Internacional sobre turismo y desarrollo. Málaga: Grupo de investigación eudmet.net (SEJ-309) de la Universidad de Málaga.