INTBAU Annual Conference 2015
Resilience and the Value of Heritage: Learning from Historic Cities
INTBAU, the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism is
pleased to announce its next major conference in Havana, Cuba following the successes of its
2014 conference in Krakow, Poland and February 2015 conference in London, UK.
The conference topic, “Resilience and the Value of Heritage: Learning from Historic Cities,”
will examine the urgent agenda of resilient settlement for a rapidly urbanizing world, and the
lessons to be applied from – and for – historic cities. What can we learn about more durable,
sustainable, adaptable forms of building? What is the value of local traditional patterns, for a
globalizing world facing growing challenges? How does the movement for traditional
building, architecture and urbanism challenge current orthodoxy, and offer a more promising
path forward?
The beautiful city of Havana will provide an intriguing case study. Cuba is a nation under
pressure to provide for tourism and other growing industries, while protecting settlements
from the increasing threats of chaotic events, including both environmental and economic
disruptions. Representatives of other INTBAU chapters from all continents and many kinds of
settlements will also share their diverse resources, and explore common challenges.
The Fountain of Noble Havana, one of the symbols of the city
Participants can elect to register for the Conference, Tour and Charrette together, or for one or
more separately.
The International Conference is organized and led by the Cuban Chapter of INTBAU and will
take place in Old Havana, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, since 1982 where restoration is
king. The participants will be introduced to the history and urban evolution of the city and
will appreciate firsthand the system of pedestrian squares that gave the city its polycentric
character and the magic and poetry of the so called the key to the Americas in colonial times.
The venue will be the 1735 Church and Convent of Saint Francis of Assisi that also holds a
permanent exhibition of Leonardo Da Vinci’s models in one of the rooms.
Conference Sub-Themes
Bringing together leaders and experts from around the world, we will explore the following
topics, among others:
The Smart Management of Cultural Heritage. This is also an issue of the utmost
importance in its own right, both for the developed world, and for countries with
emerging economies. This relevant subject involves many challenges derived from several
new trends in modern development that can negatively affect historic sites.
The Resilience of Traditional Types. The conference will explore how traditional buildings
often survive better in severe events, contain important knowledge for new buildings, and are
key resources for sustainable economic development.
We will also examine how similar beneficial (but poorly recognised) knowledge is contained
in traditional urban forms.
The Need for Protection of the Traditional Urban Fabric. This important asset often
attracts more economic opportunities based on its features such as layout, scale, mixed-use,
urban structure and form, and architecture. Yet it is often degraded by modern development,
operating under unregulated economic forces, or under poorly-examined policies of
“appropriate” development “of its time.”
The Need for Protection of World Heritage Sites. Threats to major sites come from both
natural and cultural changes, such as hurricanes, earthquakes and eventual sea level rising
derived from climate change as well as from massive tourism. Disruptive new development
can also severely damage the quality of world heritage sites.
Strategies for New Development in Historic Sites involves new economic approaches,
new reforms of zoning and ordinances, and new policies that provide tools and resources for
more compatible and supportive development.
The Need to Protect, and Add To, the Public Realm. The quality and quantity of public
space is rapidly diminishing in many cities of the world. It is being replaced by privatized
enclaves for higher-income areas; it is being damaged by careless planning for mixed-income
areas, especially for streets and infrastructure; and it is often not created at all, or only in small
quantities, within lower-income informal settlements. What can we learn from traditional
patterns and types to help to ensure better quality and quantity of critical public space for the
future?
Plaza Vieja, Old Havana, completely restored by 2012
Case Studies from different regions, countries and continents will be presented at the
Conference on the issues of the urban and architectural character of infill projects of different
scale from a block to a neighborhood, town, city or region as well as world-wide urban
extensions in both historic cities and landscapes, and new development sites. This involves at
some point the need to re-examine the Venice Charter and the imperative for the analysis of
needed reforms as a follow-up to the critique of the governing document for conservation of
monuments and sites, the Venice Charter, first articulated at the 2006 INTBAU Venice
Conference:
http://www.intbau.org/archive/venicecharter.htm
http://www.intbau.org/archive/venicedeclaration.htm
To make a reservation for the Conference, Tour and/or Charrette, please contact:
Professor Julio Cesar Perez, INTBAU Cuba at [email protected]
Schedule
TOUR (Prior to conference)
Day 1: November 11th: Arrival in Havana for the International Study Tour
Day 2: November 12th: Old Havana Walking Tour
Day 3: November 13th: Havana Tour
Day 4: November 14th: Havana tour
CONFERENCE
Day 1: November 15th: Opening session and reception in the evening. Venue to be announced
Day 2: November 16th: Conference
Day 3: November 17th: Conference.
Evening: closing reception. Venue to be announced
CHARRETTE (After the conference)
Day 1: November 18th: Old Havana International Charrette
Day 2: November 19th: Old Havana International Charrette
Day 3: November 20th: Old Havana Charrette
Day 4: November 21st: Morning: Presentation of Charrette
Afternoon / evening: Departure from Havana
Participants can register separately for the Tour, Conference and Charrette, and attend one,
two or all three events.
For registration for the Tour, Conference and Charrette, please contact:
Julio Cesar Perez, President of INTBAU Cuba at:
[email protected]
Tel +1 574 343 6549
Havana Study Tour, 12-14 November, 2015. The Magic and Poetry of Havana
The International Study Tour will provide an introduction to the history of Urbanism and
Architecture of the capital city of Cuba, listed as a UNESCO’s World Heritage Site in 1982.
The expert guide will be Professor Julio Cesar Perez Hernandez, who has lectured widely in
the US, Canada and Europe and has been a speaker at several INTBAU and C.E.U.
international conferences across Europe. A Loeb Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of
Design 2001-2002 where he was selected the 2012-2013 Wilbur Marvin Visiting Scholar, he
was Visiting Professor at the School of Architecture of the University of Notre Dame in 2012
and at the Federico II University in Naples, Italy in 2011. Professor Perez Hernandez was
Adjunct Professor at the School of Architecture in Havana from 1998 to 2006 and he is the
author of two major books “Inside Cuba” (2006) and “Inside Havana" (2011), published by
Taschen and also of "A Master Plan for 21st Century Havana”, a comprehensive urban project
for the future development of Havana, besides of many articles edited by professional
journals. His next two books on Cuban architecture and urban design will be published at the
end of 2015. Julio Cesar Perez leads and organizes the Havana International Charrette on
Urban Planning and Urban Design every spring -since 2007- and has led numerous Study
Tours for international institutions and VIP along many years that include Harvard Alumni
Association, The National Trust for Historical Preservation, The University of Notre Dame
Advisory Board, The NYC Museum of Contemporary Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
in NYC, The Cigar Club of Luxembourg, Vassar College, USC, The Fogg Museum Fellows,
the Newark Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, The US Association of
Museum Directors, Princeton University Art Museum, Exeter Museum, The Norwegian
Ministry
of
Culture,
and
UCLA
and
Dartmouth
College
Alumni..
Old Havana Walking Tour
- Visit the 4 oldest squares of the city and the most representative colonial buildings around
- Plaza de Armas, XVI century with Royal Force Castle by Sánchez and Calona (1558- 1577),
the Palacio del Segundo Cabo or Royal Post Office (1770- 1791), the Palacio de los Capitanes
Generales (1776- 1791) by Antonio Fernández Trevejos and Pedro de Medina; the beautiful
Santa Isabel hotel- where US President James Carter stayed when he visited Cuba in 2002the former residence of Count of Santovenia from 1784 and El Templete from 1828 by
Spanish
Colonel
Engineer
Antonio
Maria
de
la
Torre.
- Plaza de San Francisco de Asís from 1628 with the baroque Church and Convent of Saint
Francis of Assisi from 1735 and the 1908 Stock Exchange by Tomás Mur built by the famous
US company Purdy & Henderson in a record time of only 16 months. Visit also the Custom
House by US firm Barclay, Parsons and Klapp from 1914 along the Bay of Havana.
- Plaza Vieja where the restoration process is best explained with a stop at a special corner
restaurant which is the museum of beer in Havana. Visit the 1735 Casa de Condes de Jaruco
with the most beautiful stained glass windows in Havana and walls with the original friezes..
- Plaza de la Catedral. Visit the Casa de Condes de Bayona from 1725- currently the Museum
of Colonial Art of Cuba- and the Casa del Marqués de Arcos, Casa del Conde de Lombillo
and Casa del Marqués de Aguas Claras, all from XVIII Century and the Cathedral, the
greatest example of Cuban Baroque from 1777.
The Walls District (XIX century/ early XX century) Walking Tou
- Visit the Parque Central where the 1879 England hotel is, the Neo- Moorish 1908 Seville
Hotel, the 1914 Casino Español, the 1915 Great Theater by Belgian architect Paul Belau who
also designed the former Presidential Palace in 1920 -currently the Museum of the
Revolution- and the across the park 1925 Centro Asturiano designed by Spanish Architect
Manuel del Busto -currently the Fine Arts Museum.
- Walk along the world wide famous1929 promenade El Paseo del Prado, inspired in the
elevated plaza concept and considered one of the best open spaces in the world by French
Landscape designer J.C. N. Forestier who also designed the nearby Park of Fraternity and
Avenida del Puerto (Harbor Avenue) and also the 1929 Capitolio gardens.
- Visit the former Bacardi Headquarters Building from 1930 (the Jewel of Art Déco in Cuba).
EL VEDADO Walking Tour
- Visit The Garden City of El Vedado -planned in 1859-60 but not developed until early in the
XX century- according to modern planning principles is still considered the most important
urban initiative since Colonial times. Laid out by Spanish Engineer Luis Yboleon it’s also
considered the birth of modern planning in Cuba as it introduced the green in the city for the
first time and it provided a very effective model for separating the private and the public
realm. El Vedado, a perfect grid rotated 45 degrees to the North to better catch the prevailing
breezes and avoid the sun marked the birth of modern planning in Cuba together with The
Walls district.
- Visit the 1906-40 University of Havana, and walk along La Rampa district, the Napoleon´s
Museum, a Florentine style villa designed by Cuban architects Govantes and Cabarrocas and
the famous 1966 Coppelia Ice Cream Parlor. See the 1950s hotels -such as the former Hilton
Hotel designed by California architectural firm Welton Becket & Associates in 1958.
- See Art Déco and Streamline Moderne style apartments influenced by South Beach in
Miami, and modern cinemas like the 1947 Radiocentro building designed by Junco, Gaston
and Dominguez. Also mixed-use buildings such as night clubs, restaurants and shops with
housing on the upper floors as well as taller office buildings in the area such as the Award
winning 1953 Odontological Building and the 1958 Ministry of Public Health both designed
by late Cuban architect Antonio Quintana Simonetti. See the 1956 FOCSA building designed
by Ernesto Gomez Sampera and Martin Dominguez, considered the best reinforced concrete
apartment building in the Americas in the 1950s and learn about its negative urban impact.
- Visit the 1930 National Hotel designed by US architects McKim, Mead & White.
Annual International INTBAU Conference
Havana, Cuba, 15-17 November 2015
"Resilience and the Value of Heritage: Learning from Historic Cities"
The International Conference is organized and led by the Cuban Chapters of INTBAU International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism- and C.E.U.
(Council for European Urbanism).
Julio Cesar Perez, INTBAU Cuba [email protected] Tel +1 574 343 6549
Academic Program

The Management of Cultural Heritage is an issue of the utmost importance for both
the developed world and countries with an emergent economy as it involves many
challenges derived from new trends and tendencies in developments that can affect
historic sites.

The
Resilience
of
Cities
and
the
Value
of
Heritage
witness
how
traditional buildings often survive better in severe events, contain important
knowledge for new buildings, and are key resources for economic development.

The Need for Protection of the Traditional Urban Fabric often attracts more
economic opportunities based on its features such as layout, scale, mixed-use, urban
structure and form, and architecture.

The Need for Protection of World Heritage Sites involves both Natural and Cultural
interaction such as eventual sea level rising derived from Climate Change due to
Global Warming.

The Strategies for New Development in Historic Sites involves new economic
approaches, new revision of the zoning and ordinances and new policies derived from
the former.
The International will also address sustainable urbanism and its current practice and
importance, traditional urban patterns and their impact on modern urbanization throughout the
world, the role of urban planning and architecture in the context of global warming and
climate change, and the usually skipped contextual relationship within the current world
financial crisis.
Case Studies from different regions, countries and continents will be presented at the
Conference on the issues of the urban and architectural character of infill projects of different
scale from a block to a neighborhood, town , city or region as well as world-wide urban
extensions in both
historic cities and landscapes and heritage protected sites.
It will also address sustainable urbanism and its current practice and importance, traditional
urban patterns and their impact on modern urbanization throughout the world, the role of
urban planning and architecture in the context of global warming and climate change, and the
usually skipped contextual relationship within the current world financial crisis.
The International Conference will explore the validation of concepts as a follow-up to the
critique of the Venice Charter at the 2006 INTBAU Venice Conference
http://www.intbau.org/archive/venicecharter.htm
http://www.intbau.org/archive/venicedeclaration.htm
Key current issues in management planning for properties of cultural heritage will be
addressed. One if these issues will be "Disaster Preparedness"; the securing of historic cities
and preventive conservation against the effects of climate change, extreme weather,
earthquakes and other disasters.
The International Conference will use a working format of keynote speeches, lectures and
case studies to achieve a better debate and comprehension of the issues to be exposed.
Day 1, November 15th, 2015: Evening opening session and reception.
Day 2: November 16th, 2015: Morning and afternoon sessions.
Day 3: November 17th, 2015: Morning and afternoon sessions, followed by the INTBAU
Annual General meeting. Closing reception.
International Study Tour and Charrette
An optional pre-conference International Study Tour of Havana will be led by Professor Julio
Cesar Perez Hernandez from November 12-14 and an optional post-conference International
Charrette devoted to Old Havana and the harbor will be held from November 18-21.
Urban Planners, architects, heritage experts, NGO representatives, practitioners and everyone
with an interest in the built environment from all over the world are welcome to participate,
and submit proposals for presentations in this broad exchange of ideas to be held in Havana.
For Preliminary Registration, Proposals for Presentations or questions please contact:
Julio Cesar Perez Hernandez, INTBAU Cuba at [email protected]
INTBAU Urban Design Charrette Old Havana November 18-21, 2015
Participants at the INTBAU Conference in Havana, November 15-17, 2015, are invited to join
an optional, post-conference International Old Havana Charrette, to be held November 18-21.
The Charrette will build on our work from the past eight years, with annual Havana Charrettes
organized and led by INTBAU Cuba and INTBAU Scandinavia.
Our previous Charrettes have brought together participants from Cuba, Australia, UK, US,
Canada, Colombia, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Argentina,
Mexico and other countries.
The Charrette is designed for architects, planners, art historians, antiquarians, writers, students
and anyone with an interest in the history, traditions and culture of Cuba.
You can read a report from the March 2014 Charrette here:
http://www.havana-live.com/news/2014/05/15/focus-el-vedado-2014-havana-urban-designcharrette.html
Old Havana Charrette
International architects and planners and other INTBAU members are invited to join Cuban
experts and local residents to develop proposals for the regeneration and development of parts
of Old Havana, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Charrette will fit both educational and professional purposes and will give participants an
introduction to the history of Havana’s cultural heritage through close contact with its
traditions, architecture and urbanism. The Charrette seeks the participation of individuals who
share a respectful attitude to new interventions in historical contexts, and who value the
creation
of
places
humans
can
live
in,
work
in
and
enjoy.
OBJECTIVES
• Elaborate ideas for the development of different sectors of Old Havana.
• Promote an integrated vision between the natural condition and the built environment.
• Promote and highlight the importance of Old Havana for the new image of Havana and for
granting continuity to the city’s social and cultural integration among the different
neighborhoods.
• Evaluate the benefits of the transformation of the district of Old Havana for the future of
Havana in both economical and urban terms and their impact in the city and the population.
• Improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of the district of Old Havana
• Propose the increase of urban open space, housing and commerce in the area.
• Turn the current dilapidated image of several parts of Old Havana into a contemporary and
joyful one where both foreigners and local people can work, rest and relax.
• Reinforce the cultural identity of Old Havana within the city of Havana.
Charrette Schedule
November 18th: All day: Charrette, site inspection, initial presentation and studio work
November 19th: All day: Old Havana Charrette. Studio work
November 20th: All day: Old Havana Charrette. Studio work
November 21st: Morning: Presentation of Charrette results
Afternoon / evening: Departure from Havana.
A Charrette is an intensive planning workshop where citizens, designers and others
collaborate on a public vision for future development. It provides a forum for ideas and offers
the unique advantage of giving immediate feedback to the designers. More importantly, it
allows participants to become collective authors of the plan by launching ideas about the site.
Registration Fees and Costs
There will be a registration fee for all participants for the different events and also as a whole.
The fees goes cover all the expenses regarding logistics during the Charrette, such as studio
equipment, transportation costs and the renting of the venue, among others.
Contact Professor Julio Cesar Perez Hernandez via email at [email protected] or
directly by phone calling at +1 574 343 6549 (US cell phone number)
Registration fees:
Tour: $250.00
Conference: $300.00
Charrette: $250.00
Information for the INTBAU events in Havana, Cuba, November 2015
Travel to Cuba - Accommodation – Visa
Participants are responsible for their own travel to Cuba, accommodation and meals. While
you will be responsible for getting your own accommodation in an international style hotel in
Havana, we can provide you with some information to allow you arranging it in private
apartments
(Casa Particular) which many participants choose and have chosen along the
past 8 years when taking part in the Havana International Charrette as they seek a different
experience and a more people to people contact with Cuban families.
Participants are asked to arrange their own flights. Airlines with connections from Europe
include Air France, British Airways, Iberia, and Virgin Atlantic (from London). There are
also flights to and from the US (Miami, New York, LA and some other cities in the US)
besides from several cities from Canada, Mexico and almost all Latin American countries.
Visas
US travel agents are familiar with US people traveling to Cuba under the so called 14
authorized categories that include educational trips. INTBAU London will provide you with a
Letter of Invitation once you’ve registered that the travel agent will use for getting you the
visa. We advise you to start the traveling procedures as soon as you’ve decided to participate
in the events for obvious reasons of time and cost as it sometimes may take several weeks to
have a visa issued due to unexpected situations.
You will need a tourist visa to visit Cuba in any case either traveling from Australia, Europe,
Asia or Latin America and it needs to be issued before you arrive in Havana.
We have had US participants for all our previous International Study Tours and
Havana International Charrettes since 2007, including our most recent one, successfully held
in March, 2015. Due to currently existing restrictions from the US State Department, US
citizens will have to travel under either a general or a specific licence as mentioned above.
Most of the US participants have traveled under a general license (participation in an
international professional event held in Cuba, and organized by a non-Cuban organization)
that grants legally traveling to Cuba.
For further information, please go to the website of the United States Department of the
Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control. You may email us or contact one of the travel
agencies in Miami, Florida, listed below for additional information.

YUMA EXPRESS Charters

ABC Charters,

Xael Charters