VIRTUAL ISTANBUL HERITAGE(S)

Abstract

It has been more than 60 years since Italian architects developed the revolutionary framework for preserving historic city centers. Pier Luigi Cervallati and others, through the Bologna Plan, changed the way conservation was understood, embracing both material and social values. These latter were introduced in some international charters and national legislations, while a few practical approaches sought to balance physical conservation with the right of traditional residents to stay put in their neighborhoods. However, these experiences’ impact has been limited, and the current context for preserving social values in historic city centers is gloomy across different geographies. Through focusing on the cases of three Andalusian cities, the paper illustrates how rounds of gentrification have displaced residents since the 1990s, with historic preservation policies playing a role in the process. In the 2000s, the indirect effects of these latter led to the growth of tourism flows, which, in the past decade, have driven transnational gentrification and touristification dynamics, as the economic recovery from the 2008 financial crisis has been sustained by specialization in attracting wealthy visitors and residents. Nowadays, neighborhoods in the historic districts of Cádiz, Málaga and Seville, the cities under scrutiny, have lost almost all residents from working-class backgrounds. Drawing on demographic and tourism data and cultural heritage policies vis-à-vis urban and tourism planning, the presentation questions whether historic preservation remains useful as the neoliberal-led economic sphere has taken over its preservationist spirit, and, consequently, whether we should redirect its definitions and purposes.