Urban Heritage Management: Planning with History – A Review

Through its stability, continuation of use, the visible and tangible superpositions of historical layers, reuse of historical elements, continuous reframing of meaning and by both accumulation and selection, the city centre is (and arguably always was) a source of identity for communities and individuals. This historical superposition of layers (formal, social, economic, political, etc.) has to be studied and deciphered when dealing with an urban planning project. How do we acknowledge, interpret and use as a tool in the urban planning process all the layers that form what we define the cultural heritage of a place? How do we deal with areas with archaeological traces, especially when they are overlapping with the subsequent layers of the city up to the present day? How do we integrate all these layers in such a way that they are protected and preserved but enjoyed and used as well?