The local influences of sustainability in historic centres for buliding refurbisshment and for living

The historic city centres are comfortable living places that also have architectural quality, cultural and historic heritage. These and other aspects have contributed to a sustainable behaviour and tourism attraction, which does not happen in recent residential areas. However, existing buildings in historic centres have many constraints which associate them to problems and make them less attractive, such as the proximity between buildings, less sun exposition and many others. This paper reports on a research project in which a toolkit with 50 parameters was developed to support decision-making in old building refurbishment projects in historic city centres. Each parameter includes technical regulations, constraints and best refurbishment practices. All solutions proposed by a parameter are ordered in 5 levels from the least to the higher sustainability benefits. The article describes a connection between the toolkit parameters about building localization aspects and their application as constraints during refurbishment works. In another perspective, it is shown the contribution of these parameters as good practices for living in city centres, tourism interest and building selection aspects for renting or buying. The methodology adopted in the study comprises a case study involving the consultation of a set of 7 building refurbishment project designs. All project designs analysed do not present full information description in the majority of localization parameters of the toolkit, such as public transport, parking cars, commercial or services areas, technical infrastructures conservation, sports and gardens areas, and land reutilization. Some of the information on the building project designs analyzed were possible to ascertain through "in situ" research and part of the buildings has good location, proportional sustainability benefits and easier management practices during refurbishment works. The results suggest a lack of interest in the provision of relevant information for the part of design consultants concerned with building refurbishment projects. This aspect needs to be tacked in order to promote more sustainable construction practices and, consequently, a more efficient functioning of this segment of the construction market