Taking as a pretext the celebration for the Day of the Urban Planner, the Project Management and the Master Plan of the Office of the Historian of Camagüey City (OHCC), held a Workshop to explain some of the projects in which the professionals of both departments have worked in the last months; and that constitute investments that are thought of in the short and medium term.
Professors and students of the Architecture and Heritage Management majors of the University of Camagüey Ignacio Agramonte Loynaz, specialists from the Institute of Territorial Planning and Urbanism, the National Union of Architects and Construction Engineers of Cuba and the Heritage Provincial Council participated in the meeting, led by José Rodríguez Barreras, director of the OHCC.
Firstly, the results of the update of the Partial and Management Plan of the World Heritage area were shown, which was initially prepared with research carried out before 2007, and which has been updated for approximately two years.
The Plan is a technical-administrative instrument that guides the conservation of heritage values in this important area and that in its current version includes approaches as important as the Cultural and Creative Industries – as a response to the necessary sustainability of cities.
Later, the importance of pedestrianization in historic cities was explained and then the project for the last two blocks of Independencia Street was presented, whose execution has been divided into stages and will begin with the rehabilitation of the so-called “Las Cubanitas” park.
One of the biggest novelties of the project will be the placement of a large-scale screen, which will be based on the information needs of citizens and, together with part of the public lighting, will use renewable energy sources for its operation.
The old town of Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe was founded in Nuevitas; therefore, the sights are also set there. The project not only seeks to place a monument that marks the founding site in Pueblo Viejo, but also proposes to recover the “Varaderito” beach, located approximately one kilometer from the site.
“The city has to look at its rivers, it cannot continue to turn its back on them.” With this premise, the architect Wilfredo Rodríguez proposes his project for the construction of a building in the space of the demolished “Casona del Puente”, located in one of the oldest accesses to the area declared Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Finally, architect Dr. Henry Mazorra showed the project for the construction of Las Arcas, on the site where the ruins of the old shirt factory currently stand, next to the church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
This construction is intended to become a shopping and arts center managed by the Cuban Fund for Cultural Assets. In its conception, the few elements that remain standing from the original construction are used, as well as the position of the sun at different times of the year to value the natural light inside the building. Its façade combines with the wealth of shapes and styles of the high-value buildings that surround Martí Park.
Although the budgets of some of these works are yet to be approved and others depend on better conditions to start construction work, these projects show that the Office of the Historian of Camagüey City does not stop its eagerness to safeguard Camagüey’s heritage and manage better conditions of life for its inhabitants, valuing architectural wealth and creating better urban contexts for everyone to enjoy.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
