"Porto World Heritage 20 Years | 20 Pictures"

On the day Porto celebrated its classification by UNESCO, the municipality launched the book "Porto World Heritage 20 years | 20 Pictures" in the Library of the Seminário Maior and shared it with a room full of people.

The book is the result of a partnership between the municipality and the Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda (INCM), and it gathers a set of photographs allusive to the Historic Centre, captured by 20 national photographers, with texts by Álvaro Domingues (Geographer and Professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto), Gaspar Martins Pereira (Historian and Professor at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto) and Manuel Carvalho (Journalist and Editor of the newspaper Público).

Located along the Douro river estuary in Northern Portugal, Porto is one of the oldest European centres, and its historical core was proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996. The western part of its urban area extends to the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean. Its settlement dates back many centuries, when it was an outpost of the Roman Empire. Its combined Celtic-Latin name, Portus Cale, has been referred to as the origin of the name "Portugal", based on transliteration and oral evolution from Latin. 

Porto Historic Centre recognition as a World Heritage Site engages the city in an intense process of sustainable urbanisation and urban renewal. The challenge lies in conserving the universal heritage, combined with a sustainable development of culture and tourism in a working and living city environment, a space where there is "joie de vivre", where it is pleasant to linger, for both inhabitants and visitors.

The appeal of Porto's inner city as a cultural and World Heritage city results in ever increasing international tourism. Together with local trade and the large offer of cultural initiatives, tourism is a major economic drive for Porto.

Rui Moreira, mayor of Porto, says " my grandfather had an office in Ribeira. I still remember seeing sailors (...) buying coal, for example. (...) In those times, there were more outsiders walking around the city than naturals. I am not worried about tourism."

The re-qualification of public areas and supporting structures to the local population has gained particular relevance and a comprehensive project for the refurbishment of decayed buildings and monuments has been launched.

The mayor also thanked the enthusiasm of those engaged in the application of the city of Porto as World heritage Site and their collaboration, adding that "the city has to preserve its memoire".

The mayor of Porto mentioned the historic links that bring Porto closer to Marrakech, greeting the Vice-President of the Chamber of Marrakesh for International Relations and for Decentralized Cooperation, Ms. Awatef Berdai, who was present for the Conference on Cities World Heritage Sites to be held afterwards the book's launch.

If the ultimate goal of governance, urban institutions, and development is to make cities, regions, hence their communities more prosperous and attractive for all people, then government processes need to change to reflect that goal. This requires, as the mayor stressed, "that citizens be involved and fully engaged (?) in the development of consensus-building, city consultation processes, and institutional reform".

Rui moreira highlights citizenship and inclusion as vital for cities's placemaking and refers he believes it is possible that Porto continues to be World Heritage Site in 30 years time.