Cultural Values Change in the Rehabilitation of Historic Schools in Portugal

Despite the importance of the preservation of the historic built environment for the benefit of present and future generations, there is a lack of knowledge of the effects of architectural rehabilitation decisions on the cultural significance of historic buildings. Architectural heritage conservation literature has focused almost exclusively on providing principles and guidelines, describing intervention methodologies, and discussing predicted impacts of design on material values. This thesis argues that a focus on the actual effects is needed if the sociocultural sustainability of historic buildings significance is to be achieved. Supported by an extensive literature review and informed by personal insights from the researcher’s everyday practice, an adapted model of the Theory of Change based on Weiss (1995) was designed, providing a tool to evaluate the effects of rehabilitation on cultural significance [ERECS]. Using a selection of six recently rehabilitated historic secondary schools in Portugal (liceus), this research investigated architectural decisions and their effects on the cultural values of this building typology for education, focusing on three objectives, corresponding to three stages of interventions: understanding the existing cultural significance, identifying the design strategies applied and assessing the short-term effects of design decisions on the cultural values. Stressing the role of stakeholders in rehabilitation processes, data were collected from the buildings and architectural projects, the decision makers in the conservation process, and the school community. Although confirming that the evaluation of the effects of architectural decisions on cultural values is a complex task, the findings demonstrate that the historic liceus have historical, architectural and sociocultural values, and whilst strategies did not value social values, material cultural values were generally considered and preserved, contributing to the enhancement of intangible values. The implications of this theory-based and evidence-based research highlight the importance of evaluating actual effects for cultural heritage theory, architectural conservation practice and heritage management policy.

O Mosteiro de São Bento de Cástris: memória e identidade

Memória e identidade encontram-se intrinsecamente ligadas ao património arquitectónico. Sensíveis ao passar do tempo, estes conceitos adaptaram-se atribuindo aos sítios novos significados. O Mosteiro de São Bento de Cástris em Évora, classificado como Monumento Nacional e sendo o primeiro mosteiro cisterciense a Sul do Tejo, foi também celeiro agrícola e mais tarde instituição de acolhimento de menores, encontra-se actualmente desocupado. Questiona-se assim, qual a actual identidade deste lugar? Através do estudo dos valores culturais materiais e imateriais do lugar, no período entre 1957 a 2016, esta investigação procurará identificar esta identidade através do registo das memórias recentes do lugar, da bibliografia específica e da análise do conjunto edificado. Considerando os princípios emanados pela UNESCO que consideram que a preservação do património deve respeitar a autenticidade e integridade dos bens culturais, que permanece na identidade registada na memória, procurouse entender a relação entre a contínua utilização do mosteiro e a estima colectiva por este património arquitectónico, essencial para a continuidade da sua identidade no futuro; The Monastery of São Bento de Cástris: Memory and Identity ABSTRACT: Memory and identity are intrinsically connected to architectural heritage. Their adaptability through time, results in the development of new meanings to the places. The Monastery of São Bento de Cástris in Évora, classified as National Heritage, the first Cistercian monastery built in the South of Portugal, was later a farm barn, a foster care institution and is now empty. Thus a question is posed: what is the current identity of this monastery? Through the study of the place’s material and immaterial cultural values, focus on the period from 1957-2016, this research aims to identify the identity based on the memories of the place, in specific bibliography, and in the analysis of the built environment. Following the UNESCO principles which consider that heritage conservation should respect the integrity and authenticity of the cultural assets, the impact of the continuous usage of the monastery was studied as a method to understand the collective esteem for this architectural heritage, which is vital to the preservation of its identity in the future.

Assessing the ability of rural agrarian areas to provide cultural ecosystem services (CES): A multi scale social indicator framework (MSIF)

Assessing the ways in which rural agrarian areas provide Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) is proving difficult to achieve. This research has developed an innovative methodological approach named as Multi Scale Indicator Framework (MSIF) for capturing the CES embedded into the rural agrarian areas. This framework reconciles a literature review with a transdisciplinary participatory workshop. Both of these sources reveal that societal preferences diverge upon judgemental criteria which in turn relate to different visual concepts that can be drawn from analyzing attributes, elements, features and characteristics of rural areas. We contend that it is now possible to list a group of possible multi scale indicators for stewardship, diversity and aesthetics. These results might also be of use for improving any existing European indicators frameworks by also including CES. This research carries major implications for policy at different levels of governance, as it makes possible to target and monitor policy instruments to the physical rural settings so that cultural dimensions are adequately considered. There is still work to be developed on regional specific values and thresholds for each criteria and its indicator set. In practical terms, by developing the conceptual design within a common framework as described in this paper, a considerable step forward toward the inclusion of the cultural dimension in European wide assessments can be made