The early International Encounters were organised with great anticipation, by the then so-called Municipal Dept. of the Historic Centre (currently Municipal Agency of Urban Renovation and Housing Ltd.) in order to make known, firstly in the city itself, the tremendous historic and patrimonial values and potential of its Mediaeval Quarter.

That same year saw the completion of the groundwork for an ambitious Special Plan of Integral Rehabilitation; not the one of a technical and urban character that was to terminate in 1986, but the ambitious Integral Plan with a multifunctional content that envisaged notable interventions in public fittings in addition to numerous social, economic, residential and cultural actions.

The initial impulse given by the approval and management of the Special Plan, prompted the designation of considerable human and economic resources accompanied by the exemplary and valuable cooperation of the three competent administrations in the territory (Town Hall, Autonomous Regional Government and the Basque Government). This impulse, together with the assumption of extensive responsibilities by A.M.R.U.V. S.A. to recover the degraded Mediaeval Quarter of Vitoria, have led to the initiation of major and costly public intervention in infrastructure, housing and fittings which represent a timely and necessary stimulus for the historic centre and the rest of the City, as well as an incentive for possible private interventions.

Taking advantage of the synergy of these actions, the Municipal Agency (as representative entity of the Town Hall) considered it appropriate to give continuity and periodicity to the forum of debate and comparison of experiences in the rehabilitation and renovation of historic nuclei. In 1984 they organised the II International Encounters with the same purpose, of prolonging, institutionalising and updating the necessary and passionate ongoing debate of rehabilitation processes and experiences carried out in Europe; and went on to organise the III Encounters in 1986, the IV in 1988, the V in 1990 and the penultimate VI edition in 2002.
In this VII edition, the Corporation, chaired by the present Lord Mayor, Alfonso Alonso Aranegui, aims to extend the debate forum to disclosing and exhibiting some of the experiences in rehabilitation that have occurred in the European and American continents under the epigraph “WALLED CITIES + past + present + future”, that will take place in the Villasuso mansion, between 9 and 12 November.

Finally, we must highlight the acknowledgement, appreciation and good fortune that this City, as well as its organisations and professionals committed to the integral rehabilitation of Historic Cities, have enjoyed as a result of serving as the forum and place of encounter for illustrious expert speakers since the beginning of the series of International Encounters. Among such personalities we would mention C. Alberto RUFFO and Wilmo FERRARI (exponents on the Verona experience), Jean Louis BERTHET, Cristian LE PETIT and Dominique CHANCEL (Grenoble), Luc CONSTANDT and Joseff GORISSEN (Brujas), Bruno GABRIELLI (Genova), Gabriela PADOVANO, Cesare BLASSI and Marco DEZZI-BARDOCHI (Milan), Ursula MANDEL and Wolf KOENIG (Munich), Charles WILSON (Lancaster), Olaf GIBBINS and Michael KRAUS (Hamburg/Berlin), Patrick BERGER (Paris), Filipe MARCHAND (Evora), Enrique BARDAJI, Emilia CHECA, Francisco LÓPEZ-GROH, Francisco POL and Vicente GAGO (Madrid), Romá MIRÓ I MIRÓ and Jesús ALONSO (Barcelona), Manuel FERRER (Pamplona), Juana ROCA (Palma de Mallorca), Leopoldo Manuel CRINER (Lisbon), Pier Luigi CERVELATTI (Venice), René SCHOONBRODT (A.R.A.U.-Brussels), Andras ROMAN (Gyor-Hungry), Raymond DUGRAND (Montpellier), NULLO-BELLODI (Bologna), H.G.J. WINKENS (Maastricht), David R.S. CAMERON (Edinburgh), Leif BLOMQUINST (Stockholm) Mª Luisa CERRILLOS (Ciudad Bolivar-Venezuela), Francisco BETANCOURT (Puebla-Mexico), Javier SOPEÑA (Oviedo), Giorgio LOMBARDI (Venice), Javier RAMOS e Idoia CAMIRUAGA (Santiago de Compostela), Felipe MARIO LOPES (Lisbon), Max WELCH (Berlin), Gonzalo ARROITA y Juan I. LASAGABASTER (Vitoria-Catedral Santa María), Federico SALMERON (Granada), Carlos SANCHEZ (Xauen-Morocco), Enrique PEÑALOSA (Santa Fe de Bogotá), José M. EZQUIAGA (comparison of experiences), Juan A. BUENO, Angel MORUA and Fernando SARRIA (Vitoria-Gasteiz), Carlos CLEMENTE (Alcalá de Henares), Joaquin GONZALEZ DE ECHAVARRI, Sebastián BAYO and José C. MARIN (Centros Históricos de Alava-ARABARRI).

Special mention must be made of the contributions, in previous conferences, of José M. BALLESTER, Director of Culture and Cultural and Natural Heritage of the Council of Europe, and those of important ex-Mayors, firmly committed to the rehabilitation processes of their respective cities, José Angel CUERDA (Vitoria-Gasteiz), Joaquim NADAL (Girona), Xerardo ESTEVEZ (Santiago de Compostela), Javier SOPEÑA (Oviedo) and José Manuel MOLINA (Toledo).

Once again prestigious and renowned experts in the recovery and rehabilitation of walled cities in the European and American continents will meet up at the present VII edition (programme attached), all of them, and previous participants, committed to the composition of the eternal and unfinished “symphony” (metaphor referred to in previous encounters) implicit in the application, updating and experimentation of very diverse rehabilitation methods and philosophies. Such diversity encompasses singular historic “defeats” as well as the particular urban development of each constituent nucleus; in short, the historic, architectural and urban heritage of all mankind.


The Organising Committee.