Historic centers are fundamental heritage places in cities, bringing together central functions and historicity, making them spaces of exchange and encounter, of permanence and change, of density and massiveness. The Covid-19 pandemic and the various measures to prevent its spread, such as quarantines and social distancing, have caused historic centers and their inhabitants to be particularly affected, closing most of the public and private activities that gave life to their daily lives and emptying the public spaces where people circulated, met and stayed. Markets and informal commerce is another element to be analyzed in historic centers, both in terms of use and vitality as well as sanitary hygiene. In this context, the present session seeks to inquire into the situation of historic centers faced with pandemics, how these phenomena have affected them and in what way they have faced them throughout their history.

MODERATORS:

Elvira Pérez Architect (PUC Chile), Master (Roma Tre), PhD (PUC Chile). Professor in the areas of history, theory and criticism of architecture and architectural and urban heritage. Director of the Master in Cultural Heritage program at Universidad Católica de Chile (in)

Carlos Silva - Architect and Master in Urban Development (PUC Chile), PhD candidate (PUC Chile). Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture, UC. Coordinator of the Master in Cultural Heritage program at Universidad Católica de Chile (in)

SPEAKERS & CASE STUDIES

ASIA Rohit Jigyasu, ICCROM – Multi-hazard risk assessment of historic centres (India)

AFRICA Muhammad Juma – Zanzibar (Tanzania)

EUROPE Giorgia Amoruso, Universitat Politècnica de València – Pandemias y Centros históricos: transformar la crisis en la oportunidad de un nuevo equilibrio (Italy)

NORTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA Stephen J. Kelley, ISCARSAH, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee – New Orleans: Wind, Water and Global Climate Change (USA)

SOUTH AMERICA Fernando Carrión, FLACSO – La centralidad histórica: epicentro la pandemia, Quito (Ecuador)

SOUTH AMERICA Nivaldo Vieira de Andrade Junior, Programa de Pós-graduação em Arquitetura e Urbanismo (PPG-AU) / Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA) – La pandemia del Covid-19 en el Centro Histórico de Salvador de Bahia: oportunismo y oportunidad (Brasil)