Historical cities centre: processes of transformation documentation and analysis

The protection and valorisation of cultural and environmental heritage in the development of urban areas mainly refers to the processes of both knowledge and individual and collective memory. Historic cities, buildings and sites have a central role in order to create and reflect national and individual identities, constituting a physical continuity with the past. In order to support awareness of the state of art of preservation, the knowledge through memory processes are fundamental to make preservation and valorisation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, as well as technology transfer activities, effective. Furthermore, it is increasingly recognized that this scenario affects the reuse and recycling of urban area as well. However, there are main issues to take into account with reference to the transformation of historical buildings in a different way from in the past. Today, 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050. Consequently, the preservation and renovation processes are expected to increase in next few years up to 90% of the whole construction activities. In this scenario, the drawing assumes the importance of a document and protocol for representation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Documenting the historical cities centre transformation has the aim to enhance the physical and cultural stratification in relationship with the contemporary use of the buildings, cities and landscape. From a preservation point of view, the fact-finding, drawing and representation phases support the analysis of compatibility between historical value and new use.