The problems of urban renewal and heritage conservation will be discussed in Lagos at the 15th national meeting of the association, 'Municipalities with a Historic Centre' (APMCH), at the end of October.
The initiative, organised by APMCH in partnership with Lagos council and the discredited municipal company Futurlagos, intends to promote a reflection on the challenges on the management of cities with historic centres.
Historic centres are viewed by many councils as "engines of development," and the goal of the association is to present an integrated approach to revitalisation projects from "a number of partners who share the same goal, despite having different interests."
This is because, according to the president of APMCH Victor Mendes, over the years there has been "a disconnect between what is public investment and what is private investment," so it is necessary to have "a strategy of collective efficiency".
The meeting will include a number of specialists in the area of urban renewal and will show "concrete examples of rehabilitation and protection of historic centres, that can be replicated in other areas," said the president.
Increasingly, urban renewal faces serious problems due to depopulation and an aging population, but the APMHC insists that historic centres can become more attractive areas, with more dynamism and more life, not only for residents but also "for those who do not currently live in the historic centres but may do so in the future."
It is critical that the owners "realise that this investment, which obviously must be strongly supported, has an economic return" said Mendes.
Combating the flow of people away from certain council areas can be helped by direct financial support for young people and owners of small businesses, plus marketing actions from the government."
"Despite a lack of financial and technical resources, municipalities are the public entities that have made an effort to rehabilitate their historic centres," said the president.
It is hoped that the mayor of Olhão will be present and prepared to listen to explanations and case studies of successful city centre regeneration projects.
Should António Pina continue to foist unsympathetic renewal plans on his residents and achieve his goal of demolishing many historic buildings and repaving parts of Olhão's historic city centre with more bland slabwork, rather than enhance and maintain the unique array of calçada streets and squares, the foreign property buyers upon who he is increasingly dependent, will simply buy elsewhere.
Pina aims to squander €7 million on the city’s historic city centre yet has not asked residents what they think of his plans that are still kept from public view.
This is the polar opposite of mayor Aleixo in Loulé whose inclusive approach has already won him plaudits for a style of local government that is as unusual in the Algarve as it is successful.
Faro council also is showing some sense as it already has agreed an inspired plan to reverse the dereliction of much of the city centre, and now has the support of the PSD party which has praised the 'effort and commitment of the Faro authority in its plan to halt and reverse the physical decline of deserted buildings which has increased in recent decades in downtown Faro.'
The creation of Urban Renewal Areas in three key downtown zones will start breathing new life into many of Faro's old buildings that lie unoccupied and unloved.
These are the secret plans for Olhão's historic city centre
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