Accesibilidad a la edificación como indicador urbano en los procesos de regeneración urbana integrada en centros históricos de ciudades patrimoniales

Laburpena

Cities have a huge impact on the environment. Therefore, promoting sustainability and resilience in human settlements must be a priority. Urban indicators are a valuable tool for designing public policies, supporting decisions, and evaluating progress in the right direction (Suárez, Gómez- Baggethun, Benayas, & Tilbury, 2016). On the other hand, urban planning must link the entire society, promoting good conditions and seeking to preserve and improve social and environmental circumstances. The search for indicators that account for processes of habitability, social inclusion, innovation, environmental quality, connectivity, diversity, social equity, investment, public services, urban-rural transformations, transportation and culture, among others, takes on special relevance (UN Habitat, 2014). The need to make cities accessible is paramount (Andalusian Ombudsman, 2010). An aspect clearly enhanced by all legislation, from the 2010 Toledo Declaration to the recent "Spanish Urban Agenda", is the need to make all areas of the city accessible. However, building accessibility (strictu sensu) has hardly been considered as an indicator of habitability in urban transformation. Urban indicators are useful tools designing public policies that help in the sustainability and resilience of cities. The scientific literature related deals with the functions and utilities they must cover; what parameters to be considered in the design of a good urban indicator and what conditions they must meet. Starting from the general classification and the analysis of their common problems that is, availability and viability of data, updating, scale and compatibility, two indicators are analyzed; urban sustainability and urban resilience, this latter being understood as an evolution whose main objective is adaptation to climate change. Internationally, the standardized indicator sets are divided into groups related to, or smart cities; or sustainable cities; or both, smart and sustainable cities. Analyzing all of them, in this thesis an indicator is proposed that enables urban regeneration actions and facilitates total accessibility to building in the historic centers of heritage cities. The work areas of this thesis, the historic centers of Granada, Malaga, Seville, Toledo, and Valencia, are of great importance as traditional and historical tourist destinations characterized by the intensity and speed of their changes. All of them are subdued to the impact of urban phenomena such as depopulation, ageing, outsourcing, gentrification and, from the end of the 20th century to the present day, intense “touristification”.