UNESCO's Historic Centre of Porto: Rehabilitation and Sustainability

The Historic Centre of Porto was classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996. Given the many specificities and constraints in this area, an entity (Porto Vivo - SRU) was created in November of 2004, aiming at promoting the rehabilitation of Porto's downtown and of its Historic Centre. While safeguarding the built heritage and respecting the environment, both local and global, the rehabilitation process aims at caring for the people, its identity, culture, health and way of life; regulating the functions in order to have a suitable mix of activities; promoting contemporary comfort conditions in buildings; and managing all mobility associated issues, bearing in mind the energy uses and their impact. The success of the results observed so far encourages the promotion and expansion of their share among the concerned Communities of city leaders, building renovation actors and citizens in general. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.