Integrated Planning of the Historic Villages of Portugal

Abstract

Despite the existence of several regional plans aiming to combat depopulation in 2021, the Central region of Portugal still registered a decrease of around 4% of the population, compared to the 2011 census. Concerning the Historical Villages of Portugal, this index reached more than 30%, which represents a risk to the preservation of the cultural and historical aspects of these communities. In the search for solutions to counteract the population decline through integrated regional planning, this work focuses on approaching the landscape. Combining themes such as material and immaterial heritage management, economic and environmental sustainability, mobility and the qualification of public spaces and urban facilities, in five intervention levels at different scales, from the global context to the historic centers. The main objective of the work is to present the landscape as a structuring element in the planning of historic villages as communities and not only as tourist destinations.