Three months ago, the Government of the Balearic Islands passed an act on the rehabilitation and improvement of neighbourhoods, in keeping with steps taken five years ago by the Generalitat de Catalunya Catalan autonomous government. Coinciding with this decision, and with the aim of reflecting on intervention in the historic centre, on 16 and 17 July 2009 Eivissa Town Council organized two days of debate entitled “Good practices and interventions in historic centres”.
The debates were attended by the mayoress, the deputy mayor for territorial planning, the councillor for the Old Town and other authorities. Oriol Nel·lo opened the sessions with a presentation of the aims, the work carried out to date and the lessons learned during five years of implementation of the Neighbourhood Plan. He was followed by the Minister for Housing of the Balearic Islands, Jaume Carbonero, who presented the new act and commented on some of the urban interventions carried out in Majorca.
The following presentations focussed on specific experiences. Xavier Casanovas presented the RehabiMed method and its application in Mediterranean cities; Pedro Caro, the interventions carried out in Cordoba, and Lluís Claverol, the rehabilitation of the historic centre of Lleida. Carlos Garcia called for the introduction of contemporary architecture into historic centres. This was followed by the presentation by Marc Costa, councillor for the Old Town, and Raimon Torres of proposals to update the 1997 PEPRI (protection and remodelling plan) to adapt it to the present-day reality of the old town.
All the sessions were followed by lively debate that showed the great interest in and concern about rehabilitation of the historic centre among local professionals and residents. The closing address was given by Vicent Torres, deputy mayor for territorial planning, who presented a series of conclusions that summarised the key concepts and criteria to have emerged from the presentations and debates. These conclusions will assist the Council as it takes steps to rehabilitate the area.