Bridging heritage conservation and urban development in spatial planning policies: Exploring policy integration dynamics in Portugal

The integration of heritage conservation and urban development in regulatory frameworks is one of the major challenges to urban planning today in the context of accelerated dynamics, which can irreversibly damage cultural protected areas.

Based on the approach proposed by Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL), this research proposes to reveal how local planning policies and practices can better integrate heritage conservation with urban development goals.

Departing from the analysis of the strategy followed by international HUL pilot cities, this research proposes a critical analysis on the regulatory framework, in both local planning strategic and operational stages, by assessing how they contribute to the conservation of heritage, such as its cultural significance, vulnerabilities and risks, and the role throughout the management process to different stakeholders.

Results will reveal comparatively the degree of inclusiveness of heritage categories, the proactiveness concerning the affecting factors and the application of community engagement strategies