A Heritage-Based Method to Urban Regeneration in Developing Countries: The Case Study of Luanda

In developing countries, where political instability, former conflicts and social breakdown take place, heritage can be included in urban regeneration processes as a driver for economic development but also for social cohesion and cultural identity. This paper presents a heritage-based method for urban regeneration, developed for the city of Luanda (Angola), within the elaboration of its Metropolitan Plan (2016). Actions focus on the rehabilitation of buildings and public spaces, creating the conditions to implement effective financial mechanisms able to cover the costs of urban regeneration by results. Here, rehabilitation measures are combined with the implementation of mixed-use development models, addressing one of the key issues of urban regeneration: attracting private investments. From a practical perspective, the proposed approach focusses on the elaboration of heritage preservation, valorization and requalification strategies, moving from a geographical urban delimitation of Heritage Sets to a regeneration process based on a radius of influence that goes beyond the single building. From the regeneration of the built environment and public spaces in these Heritage Sets, the surrounding area is naturally affected. Strategic actions applied to Heritage Sets aim to produce a domino effect of regeneration that involves multiple spatial scales: from buildings and public spaces to neighbourhoods and, consequently, to the entire city. The implementation of this approach to several Heritage Sets delimited across the city, would, in the long-term, create a connected heritage network that results in an integrated urban regeneration process. Criteria for the delimitation of Heritage Sets are proposed, dealing with the concept of diversity, namely: time, historical, symbolic and functional diversity. The results from this study aim to support decision-makers in integrating heritage-based urban regeneration approaches into public policies and local planning practice.