Urban planning and heritage management policies, separate or aligned?

The understanding that the heritage and values of the existing city, which we regard as distinctive features of a community’s culture, play a key role in resilient and sustainable urban development requires heritage conservation to become part of urban management and planning strategies. However, urban development and even urban regeneration policies do not always recognise the potential of enhancing cultural heritage. This chapter discusses the relationship between regeneration strategies for deprived urban areas and the strategies for the valorisation of the cultural heritage of those areas. This study focuses on the case of two medium-sized Portuguese cities with recognised heritage value but which lack dynamics for regeneration. It is argued that apart from the tourism benefits created by enhancement of heritage, urban regeneration strategies have been entirely dependent on the financing of public policies issued mainly by the EU and have not taken advantage of the existing resources in an integrated way. This reflection aims to contribute to reconfiguring current approaches to define integrated strategies that include placing value on their various dimensions and potentials.