Modern Conservation Principles and Their Application in Mediterranean Historic Centers—The Case of Valletta

Abstract

Historic urban conservation has, for more than a century, been a major focus of planning, architectural debate and public policy. Today, there is a growing consensus that the historic city should be viewed not only as a unity of architectural monuments and supporting fabric, but also as a complex layering of meanings, connected both to its natural environment and to its geological structure, as well as to its metropolitan hinterland. The current paper will attempt to analyze the principles of modern urban conservation and to evaluate the effectiveness of their application in Mediterranean historic centers. It is structured in two parts. In the first part it examines the changes that diachronically took place in planning for historic urban conservation. It will analyze the principles that were followed until today and the existing strategies, policies and practices of historic urban conservation. The second part will examine the application of these policies in the historic city of Valletta and it will analyze the effectiveness of these principles’ application in the conservation of its historic environment. The evaluation of these policies and practices will be based on basic urban conservation pillars, such as the support of their identity through communication strategies; the promotion of cultural identity and contribution to economic growth; the enhancement of a better quality of life for residents through the strengthening of the use of the dwelling; the increase of the attractiveness of tourists; and the application of regeneration strategies and environmental planning. It is essential to address the issue of urban conservation in ways that reflect the great diversity of cultural traditions, to support new practices, and to define management systems aimed at preserving values within sustainable processes.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 15 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.