Reading the territory in planning processes to safeguard the peri-urban area of the municipal seat of Barichara, Santander (Colombia)

Abstract

The research work from which this article arises seeks to clarify from where a set of answers are generated to unknowns or gaps that must be elucidated to respond to the demands imposed by the safeguarding and conservation of the natural and built heritage found in the peri-urban areas of minor historic centres.  In which nature, architecture and urbanism come into play. In this order of ideas, the basic research focused on understanding the current situation of the urban margins of the municipal capital of Barichara (Santander) to undertake the search for a series of strategies aimed at the safeguarding, recovery and development of this third territory without forgetting its historical strengths. The process is based on an approximate approach through in situ work to know and evaluate the territory that borders the old town, a qualitative study that goes from the general to the particular to obtain elements of judgment that support subsequent actions. Next, we move on to a population sampling whose results will be elements of great validity and indispensable to direct the construction of planning guidelines. In the final part of the article, the guidelines that are structured in favor of an organization of the peri-urban territory of Barichara are presented, which, in one way or another, may be analogous to other heritage towns in Colombia.