Vernacular architecture and traditional trades. Social innovation and cultural heritage in rural Andalusia

Abstract

[EN] The approval of the National Plan for Traditional Architecture (2014) gave a boost to the recognition of this heritage and provided a consensual methodological tool for its safeguarding. This text included a programme for the recovery of traditional construction systems and underlined the need for a holistic and multidisciplinary approach to their treatment. As a precedent in Andalusia, the Inventory of Popular Architecture (1994-1997) was a pioneering project to document these buildings and the activities they housed, highlighting the capacity of techniques, knowledge and objects to adapt to the environmental characteristics of the territory. Subsequently, the Atlas of the Intangible Heritage of Andalusia (2009-2014) collected a significant number of construction techniques and traditional trades linked to this vernacular architecture. This contribution is presented within the framework of two projects coordinated by the IAPH: LAPat, open laboratory of heritage and SIN-PAR, Innovation System for the Heritage of Rural Andalusia. Their common objective is to analyse social innovation related to architecture and traditional trades and the interaction of diverse stakeholders for their safeguarding. They both recognise the local community as the protagonist in safeguarding, enhancing these practices as an efficient response to the demographic challenge in the rural world. We will focus on three case studies: the dry stone technique in the province of Almería, the raw earth construction in Andalusia, and the artisanal production of lime in Morón de la Frontera. The ultimate aim is to strengthen the transmission of knowledge of these constructive techniques and to reveal their link with socio-territorial development.