Sustainable architecture and planning in a coastal landscape between heritage and collective management

Sustainability and heritage share the common aim of transferring something to future generations, but the relationship between these two concepts is neither obvious nor simple. Under a theoretical point of view, their scopes do not overlap, as the first concerns itself with the fate of future generations, while the latter takes care of the remnants of the past. In spite of their apparent divergence, both concepts exerted a pervasive influence on the debate on architecture and urban planning in the last decades, at least in the Western World. They soon became part of everyday practice, informing many building regulations.