This project focusses on the relationship between nature in cities and the values conveyed by local communities in Faro, Portugal. With economic and health crises leading to increased stress and depression, society has begun paying more attention to mental and physical health, and the role of nature in cities has become increasingly important. The neighborhood of Estação in Faro is an area that directly borders the Ria Formosa Natural Park, making it an ideal location to study the values that green areas in cities convey to local communities. To understand the relationship between nature and people, this research used participatory research methods. The aim was to reveal the interests and perspectives of different stakeholders regarding the cultural significance of places, by assessing the values held by different generations. Two theoretical frameworks were used to code the cultural significance of nature. Cultural significance is defined by two concepts: values and attributes. The values refer to why something is important, while attributes refer to the quality or characteristic that someone or something has. The varied categories of attributes are divided into tangible attributes (asset, area, and all) and intangible attributes (product, societal, process).

The research aimed to gather information about all age groups with the most suitable participatory gaming methods. A card game was developed to understand the values of both children and elderly. The game is set around proposal cards that contain actions to take regarding the city of Faro, based on nature-based solutions (NBS) from the Urbinat catalogue. The proposals are completed with other actions that might want to be explored further in the design phase. Each proposal has been classified according to the values/attribute framework. The results of the research indicated that nature in cities is valued by local communities for a range of reasons. The highest results that emerged from the research where the economic, social and ecological values. The research also identified different attributes associated with these values, such as a sense of place, physical characteristics, cultural heritage, and ecological functions. Overall, this research has highlighted the importance of understanding the cultural significance of nature in cities for different generations.

The research was used for a values-based redesign of a vacant industrial site. The project has four main goals: rehabilitation, cohabitation, intergenerational interaction, and community ownership. The first goal aims to protect the historic and cultural significance of the site by limiting interventions to minor impacts. The second goal focuses on the relation between people and nature, highlighting the potential for nature to increase well-being and create enjoyable spaces. The third goal focuses on the relationship between people of different ages, emphasizing the mutual benefits of intergenerational interactions. The fourth goal emphasizes the importance of community involvement in the creation and maintenance of the project. Proposed functions for the building include workshop spaces, gardens, bars/restaurants, workspaces, clubs, and exhibition spaces. The proposed design aligns with social, ecological, and economic values. Based on the research the design received positive responses from both age groups.

Society conveys values to cities and their buildings, the key to sustainability, only in part recognized as heritage values, when protected by urban and/or heritage planning. There is a growing recognition of the importance of acknowledging the values conveyed by locals and tourists in heritage management and urban planning. However, the knowledge and tools available today remain predominantly expert-based. Their contribution to heritage listings and conservation plans is therefore limited. Moreover, some cities tend to unbalance locals and tourists’ needs, leading to overly touristic areas, gentrification and communities’ exodus. Although research on the values conveyed to cities and buildings is growing, there is seldom research comparing them. Hence, how do the attributes and values of Faro’s heritage conveyed by locals and tourists set the frame for transformation? This research aims to reveal the cultural significance (values and attributes) conveyed by locals and tourists, taking the neighborhood São Francisco (included in an Urban Rehabilitation Area) in Faro, Portugal, as case study. And will provide a masterplan as a visualisation of the results gathered by this research. The guidelines provided by the masterplan address the current challenges of the neighbourhood further than the actual policies in place. By using multiple methods to perform spatial analysis, which includes (1) photographing, mapping and categorization of the facades and their attributes in São Francisco, and, (2) social media analysis, where hundred Instagram posts were manually collected following strict guidelines, heritage attributes could be identified. (3) Public engagement was used in the site survey game in which pictures of the attributes would be shown to locals and tourists who would connect predefined words to them in order to collect the heritage values. By following these methods, this research aims at revealing patterns and relations between: a) attributes, in particular, buildings’ facades and their characteristics and b) values (distinguishing local and tourists). After the fieldwork, results showed clear concurrences and contradictions between both communities. Results revealed low values for contemporary apartment complexes and higher values for pre-existing typologies in both groups. Furthermore, attributes such as the street art, the materialisation of facades, and the authenticity of attributes developed into design guidelines for a masterplan in which these relations are portrayed. By understanding these relations, the Municipality of Faro can improve their awareness of who values what, and why, in order to support their strategies about how to accommodate new functions in historic buildings while respecting the limits of acceptable change of built heritage according to these stakeholders. Hence, the expected impact is to raise awareness about the cultural significance of both societal groups in order to better inform heritage management and urban sustainable planning.

Keywords | cultural significance, urban rehabilitation, building attributes, tourism, São Francisco - Faro