The fourth dimension in landscape analysis: changing of heritage and ecological values in the Évora cultural landscapes.

Time is one of the most important driving forces in Landscape Ecology. Time along with geosystem, biosystem and socialsystem determines landscape heterogeneity which reveals itself in different patterns and functions. Cultural Landscapes are the result of the interactions between man and environment along time

Rehabilitation of abandoned villages through tourism: a solution for sustainable heritage development?

Villages which have been abandoned during recent decades as a result of migration from rural areas constitute a serious problem which is all too common in many European countries. The aim of this paper is to examine the problem in Portugal and conduct a comparative study of four villages, set in a range of geographical and socio-economic contexts, which have been rehabilitated. These villages are associated with: different types of vernacular architecture; different types of traditional landscape; contrasting topographic contexts; and different causes of rural abandonment. The findings of this study point to the main requirements for improvement and recommendations are made for suitable developments in terms of the heritage in its broadest sense, including the surrounding landscape. Heritage character is not only important for the preservation of local identity but may also be associated with products and services which are marketed and is thus an essential factor for the socio-economic sustainability of rehabilitated villages.CIDEHUS centre and IIFA institute of Évora University , European Union FEDR, COMPETE and QREN, Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)

Water Planning In Alcobaça Cistercian Lands / O Ordenamento Hidráulico no Território Cisterciense de Alcobaça

This paper concerns the main domain (coutos) of the Cistercian Abbey of Alcobaça (central Portugal), founded in 1153. It shows the involvement of the monks in shaping hydraulic landscapes along time. This monastic territory is limited westwards by the Atlantic ocean with a cliff coast indented by two large gulfs, the former Pederneira and Alfeizerão lagoons, sanded up presently. These landscapes have been consolidated along with the monks’ intervention in the hydrographic plan, particularly through a network of canals, the types of which can be summarized as follows: canals for water conveyance and evacuation, to and from the abbey buildings; canals related with water-powered engines as grain-, oil-, saw- and fulling-mills, forges and other industrial devices; canals consequent to the diversion of rivers and streams with two main purposes: to drain the fields in order to improve the marshes for agricultural use, and to irrigate cultures

The Alcobaça Abbey hydraulic landscape

Introduction: This paper concerns the main domain (“coutos”) of Alcobaça Abbey (central Portugal), founded in 1153. It shows the involvement of the Cistercian monks in shaping hydraulic landscapes along time. This monastic territory is limited westwards by the Atlantic ocean with a cliff coast indented by two large gulfs, the Pederneira lagoon, north , totally sanded up nowadays, and the Alfeizerão lagoon, south, of which only the São Martinho bay still exists. These landscapes have been consolidated along with the monks’ intervention in the hydrographic plan, particularly through a network of canals, the types of which can be summarized as follows: - canals for water conveyance and evacuation, to and from the abbey buildings; - canals related with water-powered engines as grain-, oil-, saw- and fulling-mills, forges and other industrial devices; - canals consequent to the diversion of rivers and streams with two main purposes: . to drain the fields in order to improve the marshes for agricultural use; . to irrigate cultures. Method: The hydraulic landscape planning has been identified and characterized through documentary research, stereoscopic interpretation of panchromatic and infrared “false colour” vertical aerial photographs, and land surveys. Findings / discussion: Flood control seems to have been one of the main hydro technical concern of the Cistercians. Their strategy was to subdivide some hydrographic basins, so that the fields would not be flooded. This was observed in the fields of the ancient Pederneira lagoon, for which an important cartography is available. But the same strategy was probably applied in the Alfeizerão fields. Besides the canals which were analyzed, other canal networks existed but it has not been possible to identify them till now because of the soil erosion or the topographic transformations together with the documental lack of knowledge. The more blatant situation concerns the old Valdeventos monastic farm, at the eastern limit of the “coutos”, where was found a large water storage structure, a tank, presumably to supply an irrigation canal network. Conclusion: Between the early 12th century and the mid 18th century, the Cistercian monks of the Alcobaça Abbey conceived and set in their “coutos” a hydraulic landscape composed by a network of canals with different purposes, and other water devices. This waterscape presents a high heritage value and deserves to be protected and developed.UID/HIS/00057/2013 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007702

Montado’s ecosystem functions and services: the case study of Alentejo Central – Portugal

Although the concept of ecosystem services is well defined and centred on human use of natural systems, it is not yet consensual. The ecosystem services connect ecology and economy; they allow to integrate ecology into policies and to bring a monetary value. Even if the authors do not entirely agree with the idea of giving a monetary value to all elements, living and not living, they consider that the concept of ecosystem services can be improved in the sense of a holistic landscape ecological approach. Montado is a high valuated cultural landscape typical from the Southwest of Iberian Peninsula. It concerns a human-shaped ecosystem composed by a mosaic of scattered cork oaks, holm oaks or mix oaks, with a high grazing diversity. The most important products of Montado are cork and other non-timber products. Nevertheless it’s highly value is on the ecosystem functions it can provide, namely biodiversity conservation, water cycle regulation, carbon sequestration and soil conservation. These ecosystem services are highly interconnected, and have a lot of dependences in a complex structure. So, the first goal of this paper is to identify the main Montado ecosystem services that must be valued in sustainable management and policies, in order to prevent biodiversity losses and other types of ecosystem degradation.ICAAM,CIMAC,CIDEHU

Guidelines for the integration of biological and cultural values in a Landscape Interpretation Center: application in southern Portugal

The city of Évora (the Roman Ebora Liberalitas Julia) is the most important town in Alentejo province (Southern Portugal) and is surrounded by a quite rich cultural and biological landscape involving archaeological sites of several epochs, old field networks and farms, as well as specific multifunctional cultural landscapes, the agro-forestry-pastoral systems called montados. Based on previous studies and land surveys, in which where identified the best preserved sectors and marks around Évora concerning the old cadastral systems, ecological corridors networks and the most important montados areas for preservation, it is presented the main guidelines for the development of an interpretation centre for the cultural and biological values in the Évora region. The methodology applies GIS spatial analysis and multilevel approaches and gives the guidelines for the integration of the different cultural and biological values in a holistic approach of landscape. The conceptual model is presented as well as the results obtained for the Évora Region

O Monte Alentejano na encruzilhada do tempo

O tradicional monte alentejano é um tipo de habitat constituído, pelo menos até finais dos anos 70, por estruturas arquitectónicas detentoras, em muitos casos, de um património vernácula inigualável. Nos últimos 30-40 anos assistiu-se a uma dinâmica sócio-económica que, se por um lado levou a uma maior racionalização dos sistemas agrícolas, com a intensificação da mecanização, desenvolvimento das monoculturas, introdução de novas culturas, etc., foi, por outro lado, acompanhada por um despovoamento rural crescente e pela alteração radical das redes sociais locais, com a evidente quebra da coesão social, entre outros problemas. Mas o que terá acontecido durante este período ao monte alentejano? Qual foi a trajectória de conversão para as novas funcionalidades? Estará o monte alentejano condenado a desaparecer ou a diluir-se noutra realidade? O que aconteceu aos seus valores patrimoniais? Os autores pensando que esta problemática não tem sido encarada pelos órgãos políticos responsáveis com a devida competência, nem merecendo da sociedade a devida atenção, propõem-se realizar um estudo comparativo de situações actuais, correspondentes a zonas geográficas e a tipos de uso do solo distintos, no Alentejo Central. Esta comparação será tanto mais enriquecedora quanto mais distintas forem as paisagens, pois só assim se perceberá se o problema atinge indiferenciadamente todo o território, ou se, pelo contrário, assume maior gravidade em algumas paisagens particulares. Afinal, o risco, é que, com a necessidade de se produzir para um mercado global, acarretando a descaracterização de muitos sistemas agrícolas tradicionais, paisagens de elevado valor patrimonial, como o montado, a par de um património vernacular por vezes rico, fiquem cada vez mais expostas e degradadas. Pretende-se, a partir deste olhar, tentar perceber os diferentes caminhos que têm conduzido o monte alentejano a alterações nem sempre evidentes e percepcionáveis.UID/HIS/00057/2013 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007702

Is social coesion affecting heritage landscape perservation and interpretation?

Usually heritage landscape is seen as a natural and a cultural resource. But, in the base of those landscapes we can meet social practices, an intangible heritage that give cohesion to the natural and cultural aspects. Our scope it's to debate ideas comparing examples. Between the well preserved Chinese rice heritage landscapes, supported by millenary social and farming practices, and the abandoned European terraces, an essential social question emerges: the preservation of the landscape heritage is supported not only by natural and cultural elements but also by social practices, technical knowledge and ways of understanding Nature. Efforts to the heritage landscape maintenance has been limited to the natural and cultural elements preservation, forgetting often the referred social cohesion factors. To safeguard heritage, the cultural landscape should be duly interpreted which means the understanding of the ecological, social and even economic functionality of the landscape structures.UID/HIS/00057/2013 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007702

An aqueduct to Olisipo (Lisbon)? Theoretical discussion and route testing through geographical modelling

The first references to the Olisipo aqueduct date from the 16th century and regard the Água Livre springs and the Belas roman dam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, architects and engineers reported the existence of remains of an old conduit. However, the lack of archaeological proofs in Lisbon area led some researchers to consider the Olisipo aqueduct an utopia. Supported by documentation and functional interpretation of roman hydraulic structures, tests to find out the aqueduct route were developed through an innovative geographic modelling. Different surfaces of topographic conditioning were generated to create a viable route for the water to be conveyed to both termini of the ancient town referred to by Leonardo Turriano.UID/HIS/00057/2013 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007702

Barragens romanas do Sul de Portugal: contribuição para o seu inventário e caracterização

Apresentam-se os resultados da inventariação e caracterização de barragens romanas em Portugal. a sul do Tejo. com base na análise das fontes bibliográficas. em inquéritos. recolha de informação de arqueólogos e em reconhecimento de campo. Identificaram-se nove barragens romanas que se crêem inéditas, tendo-se reconhecido também onze barragens já mencionadas na bibliografia. Procede-se à classificação tipológica das barragens inventariadas e salientam-se os seus aspectos mais relevantes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio