Methodological Proposal to Regulate the Transformation of the Urban Landscape as a Consequence of Urban Regeneration and Building Rehabilitation Interventions

The project began with a Nominative Grant awarded by the Directorate of Territorial Planning and Urban Agenda (DTPUA) of the Department of Territorial Planning, Housing and Transport (DTPHT) of the Basque Government to the University of the Basque Country, to conduct research into the urban landscape.

The building sector is facing a profoundly transformative challenge: how to combine social commitment to creating the necessary conditions for habitability with the duty to reduce resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Against this highly relevant backdrop for the sector, the DTPUA has launched a series of projects to spearhead urban regeneration initiatives across the Basque Country. These include OPENGELA, a programme that seeks to improve quality of life in cities through urban regeneration by creating neighbourhood offices that accompany neighbourhoods throughout the refurbishment process; the Urban Vulnerability Inventory; and the ‘Long-term Intervention Strategy for the Basque Country’s Building Stock’ project, which is the first step in creating an action plan for the energy refurbishment of all residential buildings in the Basque Country. This will achieve two objectives: guaranteeing socially acceptable habitability and reducing existing inequalities in relation to the residential stock, while also meeting the European decarbonisation objectives for the building sector between 2020 and 2050.

Although the need for intervention is beyond doubt for the reasons given above, regeneration and rehabilitation processes significantly affect the urban landscape. The indiscriminate addition of new cladding to the external walls of buildings is significantly and sometimes irreversibly altering the appearance of our towns and cities. It is therefore significant to note that the possible impact on the building’s compositional and architectural image when acting on its envelope is not considered in the set of parameters analysed by the different regulations and planning tools when establishing the criteria for intervention to improve energy efficiency.

Therefore, it can be seen that aspects such as the compositional, typological, aesthetic, architectural and urbanistic value that may be affected by the transformation of buildings’ original façades are not considered when regulating different types of intervention, except in the case of buildings or complexes that are already protected due to their heritage value. In these cases, the regulations tend to opt for the simplest solution: excluding them from any obligation to improve their external envelope.

What about buildings and complexes of particular architectural value which have not yet been granted protection, where any intervention could permanently alter their character or appearance?

The urgent need to enhance value often leads to conflict among the agents involved due to discrepancies regarding intangible concepts such as authenticity, meaning and heritage value. Reasonable material substitutions, respect for form, the adoption of new languages and adaptations to meet new needs, including improved energy efficiency, are just some of the issues that generate controversy. We must protect those buildings that are a testimony to history and those with a recognisable architectural quality, as well as all qualified contemporary architecture, regardless of whether it can be understood as modern in conceptual and stylistic terms. Any intervention on 20th century heritage should be rationally regulated, establishing clear protocols that require prior demonstration that the planned actions will not mutilate the work’s specific formal and technological legacy.

In the field of energy improvement interventions, it is necessary to focus on those large-scale buildings constructed during the 20th century that are particularly sensitive to architectural disfigurement, as this puts not only their appearance, but also their ‘character’ at risk. Most energy interventions focus on inserting a new skin into the building’s thermal envelope as it is a passive system that improves energy efficiency and allows restoration and repair of any damage, while providing a modernised appearance. However, the consequences of this type of intervention on buildings with significant and evident architectural value, whether officially recognised or not, are irreversible.

Having identified the issue, the DTPUA has deemed it necessary to analyse the potential impact of urban regeneration and building renovation interventions on the urban landscape. To this end, the DTPUA has launched a research project entitled ‘Methodological Proposal to Regulate the Transformation of the Urban Landscape as a Consequence of Urban Regeneration and Building Rehabilitation Interventions’. Case studies: practical application in residential complexes included in the Opengela programme’, which aims to develop a global methodology to regulate possible interventions in urban regeneration and building rehabilitation in any municipality in the Basque Country. The project will also test the practical application of this methodology in residential complexes included in the Opengela programme.