For Carmen Chacón, the Congress of the Organization of World Heritage Cities began two years ago, when the event in Córdoba began to be organized and it was necessary to work on the Quebec road map.
-The organization of cities World Heritage It contains a series of documents that cities subscribe to. By adhering to the organization and the agreements that are adopted there, in which you are present, this is binding. You must try to respect everything that is possible to respect and that does not go against your regulations, because normally, when agreements are adopted, the possible disadvantages of their application are always put on the table. In fact, we consider this congress as the finale of the Quebec Roadmap, which was the Congress previous, where the cities were linked to it.
-And how did it work?
– Collaboration networks have been formed, all cities have joined one of these collaboration networks where conclusions are drawn that they are now trying to apply. From now on, the Cordoba Roadmap will be published, where conclusions that will be reached to develop them over the next two years. The normal thing is that all cities subscribe to it and assume it.
-Has anything that was decided in Quebec been implemented in Cordoba?
-We have just made field visits, which are actions that the City Council has carried out perhaps before these four strategic axes: requalifying housing, refreshing the city, transforming mobility and regenerating the environment. Among these, we have been able to teach one of each. In reclassification, what the patios mean in Córdoba, including the new formalization of the patios of the new developments. In refreshment, Orivewhich was recently completed. In mobility, the Tendillas-Mosque axis, and in regenerating the rehabilitation of the Market.
-The cities represented here are very different. Are your problems common?
-Very common, in some cities more than others. I was recently in Puebla and they have huge mobility problems. The problems of regenerate the environment urban, the same, and we all have hot ones. That is why collaborative networks are proposed, to see what solutions have been brought to other cities and to be able to take them on.
-Is there any experience of success?
-In Córdoba, we are among the most pioneers with the Patios, because all cities have the problem of the absence of shops, schools or services. However, we have a historic center to which a native lady joined because Córdoba, of all the cities she had known, was the one that had best managed to maintain its population in the Casco. It is no longer an internal assessment, it is an external assessment, and in comparison with other cities. Our helmet defends itself and we are going to try to improve it.
“The regulation of tourist apartments will be one of the problems that will arise with renewable energies”
-Are significant contributions expected?
-We have not yet had general assemblies, but it is true that in the collaborative networks there have been other experiences in which things that we had already experienced have worked. For example, Bordeaux talks about what he is going to install Areas of Acire. Puebla is going to pedestrianize an important street, which is Dulces, and they were very happy, and we had built the entire Tendillas-Mosque axis years ago.
-Does pedestrianization drive out neighbors?
-It is true that pedestrianization makes traffic more user-friendly, but it cannot eliminate the vehicle. Pedestrianization must be rational, because the elderly must return home. A family with three children who fall asleep must do so and a balance must be found for pedestrianize what is possible and keep what is also possible on the traffic axis. We must move: a closed helmet on the car keeps people away, because we are tied to the vehicle. It is inevitable.
-Are tourist apartments a common problem for everyone?
-It is a common problem and they are proliferating more and more. We are cities with a high tourist load. In some cases, they have reached a level that has reached a ceiling and this has not happened to us. We are conducting a study to see how this can be regulated and adapted to the needs of the Casco. This will be one of the themes that will arise, along with the renewable energies.
