The role of best practice case studies is to convince localities and stakeholders of the benefits of HERITAGE LED REGENERATION by information on lessons learned in the process of regenerating through investment in heritage and good practice guidance, in terms of processes to be followed by local, department and national authorities. Presented during the VIVA EAST Local Workshops in Valea Hartibaciului - Romania, Cahul - Republic of Moldova, Dilijan - Armenia, Nov. 2012

1. CASE STUDIES
Workshop Valea Hartibaciului
November 2012

2. THE CONTEXT
An important part of European physical cultural heritage is experienced in the
context of small historic towns or vernacular settlements.
These settlements have an important contribution to make to the social and
economic well being of larger regions they belong and therefore to the
development and implementation of EU regional policies relating to heritage
and regeneration.
Best practice case studies should convince localities and stakeholders of the
benefits of HERITAGE LED REGENERATION by information on lessons learned in
the process of regenerating through investment in heritage and good practice
guidance, in terms of processes to be followed by local, department and
national authorities.

3. Scenari per il futuro del paesaggio regionale
I SISTEMI TERRITORIALI PER LA FRUIZIONE DEI BENI PATRIMONIALI
The role of Territory and
Landscape
in urban regeneration of
historic centres.
prof. arch.Mariavaleria Mininni
DICEM Università della
Basilicata
PUGLIA
MATERA
Metodologie de realizare a planului de valorizare a bunurilor
culturale prevede o abordare a teritoriului la scari diferite –de la
scara obiectului individual la scara contextului teritorial.
Aceasta permite o viziune care merge dincolo de puncte izolate,
si care pune in legatura bunuri culturale de diverse tipuri: cladiri,
mestesuguri, elemente de peisaj, etc.

4. ATLANTE DEL PATRIMONIO
e SCENARIO STRATEGICO / ambiti paesaggistici e figure

7. Scenari per il futuro del paesaggio regionale
3. IL SISTEMA INFRASTRUTTURALE PER LA MOBILITA’ DOLCE

8. • CHARTER ON THE BUILT VERNACULAR HERITAGE (1999, ICOMOS)
“Built vernacular heritage represents the fundamental expression of the culture
of community, of it’s relationships with the territory and the same time, the
expression of the world’s cultural diversity.”
Ten years later, “RIMETEA DOCUMENT on the protection of the built vernacular
heritage in the multicultural environment” adopted by ICOMOS Romania,
Hungary and Germany (23.05.2009) agrees upon the fact that “protection and
enhancement of cultural and heritage diversity should be promoted as an
essential aspect of human development, solutions to vernacular heritage
preservation are to be found in a BALANCED, SUSTAINABLE development of
COMMUNITIES, where tradition should be through PLANNING and
PROGRAMMING mechanisms”.
COMMUNITIES can establish comprehensive inventories of their vernacular assets
and heritage and encourage local capacity for maintaining local tradition in
BUILDING, AGRICULTURE, ECO-TOURISM and CRAFTMANSHIP.

9. BEAUTIFUL ROMANIA PROJECT started with 4 cities (ALBA-IULIA, BRASOV, BRAILA,
MEDIAS) but the important lessons of what had been achieved had to be taken
forward and developed to produce tangible and useful guidance that meets
operational needs of other heritage cities.
GENERAL OBJECTIVE – meaning the main direction of development for the localities,
reflecting all social, economic and infrastructure objectives – was to INCREASE THE
CAPACITY OF CITIES TO REGENERATE PHYSICALLY, ECONOMICALLY and SOCIALLY,
through realizing the potential of investing in heritage.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES and OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVES
Among STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES heritage regeneration supported infrastructure
enhancement, creation of a competitive economy (by attracting new investors and
businesses besides tourism, development of services and social inclusion).
OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVES were carried on through projects corresponding to the
objectives as public places enhancements, new uses in public restored buildings.

10. BEAUTIFUL ROMANIA PROJECT
PROJECT IDENTIFICATION
The background of the project initiation was the preservation of Romania’s
historical centres, areas that urgently needed protection and revitalization -
this including not only monuments/buildings but also public spaces facing
neglect (squares, pedestrian areas or parks).
At the level of the National Strategy for Sustainable Development of the country,
this was a necessary step to make urban historical centres competitive in a
globalized economy, where culture- specific to each area, promoting and
fostering the local spirit, can make the difference and make regain the “sense
of belonging” to the community, to inhabitants.

11. ​
Project Location / Area of Intervention
As a general rule for the initiation of the project in each locality, the location had to be in
relation with the historical centre, implying not a large scale intervention but an
intervention that will be a signal of good practice and a project that may become the
start of a larger process of restoration and socio-economic regeneration of the area.
These areas were chosen by local authorities after consultation with local communities,
afterwards discussed over with National Authorities and UNDP representatives in order
to be selected as priority projects to be implemented in the BR project framework.
The areas of intervention were as it follows:
Alba Iulia – capital of Alba County, within the Vauban type XVIII-th century Citadel - the
“heart” of the city starting roman times since today – mainly public spaces and parts of
the heritage represented by the fortifications were rehabilitated and revitalised, in order
to bring back life to this heritage and make local community aware of it: the Itinerary of
the 3 fortifications (1), the IV-th gate of Vauban fortress (2) the South gate of the Roman
Castro (3) the Caponier public space (4) and a restoration project of the military
storehouse (5).

14. Medias - second city in Sibiu County, situated at equivalent distance from Sighisoara and
Blaj (both historical emblematic cities for the region), can be defined as a picturesque
city, with built heritage from gothic period to Jugendstil, where two buildings of public
interest were restored: the Culture House 16 Ferdinand square (1) and the interiors of
the Municipal museum, part of the Franciscan Monastery (a XV-th century building) -
each of them being a starting point for larger regeneration processes of the urban fabric
and enhancement of the cultural city life.

15. Miercurea Ciuc - known as “town of the plain”, it has been attested in a privilege
letter from1558, today is the capital of Harghita County and has as emblematic
building the Mikó Citadel, situated in the old administrative centre and built between
1623-1631.
Presently the Szekler Museum of Ciuc , the museum shelters an impressive collection
of local history, natural science, traditional popular artefacts, church art and old
prints- the target of the rehabilitation project being the inner courtyard of the citadel
(1) – public space dedicated to cultural events and performances.

16. Sighisoara - being in Europe one of the few
inhabited medieval citadels, the city is
included on WHM list in 1999 as an
important UNESCO site, which suffered from
damages brought by landslides or floods in
2004.In this respect, the Rehabilitation of a
part of a sliding wall with the pedestrian
area along this side of the citadel (1), were a
priority in the management of the city
rehabilitation.
Complementary, a park within the protected
area was designed and realised, the existing
public space becoming a quality area for the
old quarter community (2).

17. Sulina - is a small town with a unique history,
characterised by ethnic and cultural coexistence, in
the XIXth century - 25 nationalities for 4889
inhabitants - being the place where the European
Commission of the Danube established its
headquarters. Two priority projects were initiated- the
public space of Street 1 rehabilitation - as part or the
historical centre and landmark for history and the
architectural scenery of old Sulina (1) and restoration
of traditional house belonging to the Greek
community history, as community centre and public
library.

19. Objectives / type of intervention
The main objectives of the projects aimed at:
• local heritage buildings adapt to new uses in order to effectively play an important
part in the modern world (restoration /revitalization of buildings opening up their
internal spaces and providing also extensive information and communications
facilities)
• keep an adequate scale for the interventions in the historical fabric in order not to
lose fragile or essential details (small and medium scale projects for parts of a larger
scale heritage)
• investment in the historic environment as a catalyst for wider regeneration
beyond the initial building or area as well as attracting additional public and private
investment
• improve the quality of life for the inhabitants (new public areas for walking, for
new open air cultural activities)
• bring to light the cultural diversity in each selected area and use it for the benefit of
today living communities (representative heritage for multicultural communities were
selected and included in BR Project)

20. Partnership and target groups
Local authorities had a clear leadership role in this project but a successful heritage led
regeneration and revitalization invariably requires a partnership approach.
Partnerships refer to public, private but also at local community involvement: public
partnerships were crucial to achieving the project objectives (being allocated funds at
national, regional and local level) and private sector involvement required a creative
approach where new ways were explored to attract necessary funding while delivering
public benefit.
The importance of involving local communities has emerged repeatedly as heritage
regeneration projects underpins their sense of identity and pride of place also affecting
their life by changes induced from re-use of landmark buildings to rehabilitation of
historic public spaces.

21. Strategic Intervention Framework
The strategic level for these heritage led regeneration/restoration/revitalization projects
in historic centres was to find the suitable scale of intervention in order to realise wider
social, economic and environmental benefits.
The framework for action provided during these interventions in heritage sites included:
• Value local heritage, by recognizing its potential as driver of urban regeneration and key
contributor to sustainable development of the area and the city as a whole
• Understand what constitutes the character and identity of the city and specific of the
area of intervention
• Central leadership role assumed by Local authority
• Ensure specific skills training for restoration and regeneration of historic buildings and
public places
• Monitoring of the project development on each site and of final results/quantifying of
socio-economic, environmental and cultural benefits of heritage regeneration projects.

22. The measures taken during the implementation timeframe promoted:
• an integrated development of projects and public areas rehabilitation in connection
to a general plan of development for the entire city/town - taking into consideration
socio-economic but also environmental sustainability
• change in local communities attitude towards historic areas (perceived as safe,
quality spaces)
• work in partnership for public, private and local community to achieve larger
objectives related to heritage enhancement
• social equity for members of vulnerable groups by employment on heritage
objective sites

23. SUSTAINABILITY
Preserving and enhancing existing heritage buildings and public historic spaces represents
an economy of energy in terms of using existing materials. The use of traditional
building techniques by specialised construction enterprises was complemented by the
insertion of modern technologies in order to upgrade the buildings and the pedestrian
areas.
This way of acting created quality public spaces by restoring a community life and new
cultural spaces enforcing the “spirit of place” and the feeling of belonging to that place,
area, city for the inhabitants.
From the administrative and institutional point of view, the sustainability of the project
consist in the framework realised for the cooperation between all levels (international,
national, local, public, private) made possible through general agreements and
partnerships, a mission that would have been impossible to be carried on only by one
of the interested parts.

24. LESSONS LEARNED
• The importance of a complex/strategic approach to heritage led regeneration, in
order to create a replicable success story and determine future qualitative similar
interventions, with significant impact on the city’s territory.
• The crucial role played by public authorities (at national and local level), enabling
the project through financial support but also local leadership.
• The opportunity restored heritage buildings and public spaces can bring to the
quality of life for inhabitants but also for members of vulnerable groups,
benefitting from social-inclusion by working in similar projects.
• The good finalised works act as catalysts for regeneration of the historic centres
and are examples that can be replicated on the territory of the same locality but
also all over the country.
• The message of confidence at the level of local communities to ensure their
support and involvement in future heritage rehabilitation projects, having also a
strong social component.

25. Thank you for your attention
Arch. Catalina PREDA
International Expert