Why pursue urban experiments in historic downtowns? It might seem counterintuitive picking the most consolidated areas of the city for experiments. However, the historic downtowns often face obsolescence processes that translate into decay, abandonment, overcrowding, or underuse[1]. Urban experimentation breaks the inertia of such longstanding processes, transforming the … [Read more...] about Urban experiments in historic downtowns: Local identity and innovation for a more sustainable cultural heritage
Urban heritage
There are more than 80 historical and cultural UNESCO sites in cities in Latin America and the Caribbean, but only half of them have management plans to preserve their value. From the IDB, we work to improve urban habitat and prevent its degradation, revaluing the historical heritage of cities and preventing adverse environmental impacts. Learn more by reading our blog.
Adaptive reuse: historic practices during a crisis
COVID-19 has been advancing rapidly and disrupting our daily lives. The virus has demanded to use our creativity to convert spaces and host temporarily new emergency uses. As many of us stay home adapting our own house as office, school, nursery and/or nursing, key stakeholders in our cities are working to contain the pandemic and converting even iconic sites, adapting them in … [Read more...] about Adaptive reuse: historic practices during a crisis
Behind the scenes: Big Data analysis for public policy
In the previous blog Analyzing and improving access to culture we told the story of the Pase Cultural program evaluation. Behind that story is an open code tool that was key in analyzing the big, complex datasets generated by the program. The tool, called Georeferenced Program Evaluation (GPE), was designed for detailed geospatial analysis to measure the effectiveness of a … [Read more...] about Behind the scenes: Big Data analysis for public policy
Analyzing and improving access to culture
How to improve access to diverse cultural activity to Buenos Aires youth? (ages 15 to 18) Faced with this question, the city developed the Pase Cultural or Cultural Pass program in 2018, and with the IADB cities Lab, the first month’s results of the program were assessed to adjust this public policy on an early stage. The Cultural Pass is a monthly credit card … [Read more...] about Analyzing and improving access to culture
Culture and urban revitalization as partners
The Sustainable Development Goals have found in the culture one good ally for the implementation of the local agendas in cities. This association might not come across as an obvious one. In 2018 the World Culture Forum emphasized that the world as we know it is facing deep changing processes, the concerns we faced decades ago are changing rapidly. Therefore, we should create … [Read more...] about Culture and urban revitalization as partners