Inserción de nueva arquitectura mediante lineamientos urbano-arquitectónicos en una unidad de paisaje histórico urbano. Caso barrio El Vado, Cuenca (Ecuador)

Cities are built in time and space, are the stage of social, cultural, economic and historical-identity baggage. Territorial imbalances as congestion of some zones and the desertification of others have contributed to undo a historical-cultural continuity in heritage cities, which has affected the urban organism. A few decades ago, the management of cultural heritage in Spain had a restricted model focused on exceptionality, monumentality and antiquity, a situation that is also latent in Ecuador. Cuenca, elected Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 1999, evidences a fragmentation between the historical area and the total city, which has led to urban-architectural failures, especially in the insertion of new architecture in the historic urban landscape. El Vado neighborhood possesses determining physical qualities associated with historical, religious, cultural and urban-architectural referents of the place's heritage, however, 36% of its architecture is susceptible to demolitions. The approach used for this study is qualitative-descriptive, using the ethnographic method and techniques such as semi-structured interviews, social cartography and life histories to members with social and cultural significance of the neighborhood in question, with the intention of obtaining the valuation of a unit of urban historical landscape. Based on that and the alignment to national policies and strategies, guidelines were proposed related to land use, the social organization of space, geomorphology and protection of visuals with the normative support of UNESCO and confrontation with local regulations.