The historic quarter of Orihuela (Alicante): from heritage to urban revenue

Abstract

The town of Orihuela has a wealth of architectural and urban heritage, heir to the Ancien Régime, which has been strongly affected by the urban renewal promoted by the first general urban organisation plans. Prior to 1994 there was no special plan in place, but nonetheless it became subject to the practice of project-based urban planning. Hence, the strategies developed with regard to the historic quarter have been geared towards the generation of urban revenues. The proposals are of selective rehabilitation together with massive renovation, supported by public investments in facilities to create new centralities. The latter favour aristocratic and traditionalist recovery, based on a highly biased conception of historical landscapes. The hypothesis that the recovery of the historical town centre is oriented more towards the real estate business than towards rehabilitating a social space is maintained.