Conservation and Sustainability: the interconnection among natural and cultural values

The concept of sustainability is today widespread almost everywhere, but its meaning has different interpretations depending on the contexts in which it is used (environmental, social, economic). Sustainability is often talked about in terms of energy or materials requalification otherwise of the construction site processing, but this approach considers only a limited aspect of the sustainability and disregards the conservation problems. Some misunderstandings relating to the concept of sustainability in conservation have recently been highlighted and today the balance of ecosystems, the social progress and the economic well-being are closely related to each other and cannot be seen separately. These issues must be seen in a broader context of sustainable development, in which the protection of cultural heritage plays a decisive role. However, although the concept of sustainability has very ancient roots, its relationship with culture still appears rather weak and not very concrete. In the mid-nineteenth century John Ruskin already provided an important anticipation of the concept of sustainability, interpreted as the need to maintain resources without compromising the enjoyment rights of future generations. In his famous aphorism no. 29 he emphasized the responsibilities of each generation towards the following ones; these words already contain “in nuce” the essence of sustainability. Although the positive impact of cultural heritage on the “four pillars of sustainable development” (economy, society, environment and culture) has been demonstrated by a recent study (Cultural Heritage Counts for Europe, 2015), actually the cultural issues still take up a marginal position in the policies of the 2030 Agenda . Cultural heritage was long absent from the sustainable development debate, despite its relevance to human develop and its great potential to contribute to social, economic and environmental goals. Starting from the relationship between conservation and sustainability – understood as the need to maintain resources without compromising the enjoyment rights of future generations – it seems necessary to consider the close interconnection between natural and cultural heritage in the city of Porto. The geographical location is indeed a strongly characterizing element and the conservation of architecture is inseparable from the landscape protection. An integrated approach is necessary to associate development (not only tourism progress, but socio-economic growth and well-being in general) with conservation, examining in a systemic way the features and the elements to be safeguarded together with the risks of damage or loss of natural and cultural resources.