252 Apuntes del Alcázar de Sevilla
E
nglish
version
nologies that affect our daily lives with the preservation of the
environmental quality, being necessary for this to coordinate
the actions of the differentPpublic Administrations.
In this regard, the location of certain elements and the imple-
mentation of facilities in matters of energy and telecommuni-
cations, which directly affect the values and contemplation of
the properties affected by the declaration of cultural interest,
are subject to the approval of the Cultural Administration”.
Adding within the same Explanatory Memorandum, point III, the
obligation to treat this subject within the development plans af-
fecting certain Properties of Cultural Interest.
“Within this unique procedure, the minimum contents of the
development plans are regulated when they affect certain
types of Properties of Cultural Interest, among which can be
highlighted the need for a regulatory framework to control the
visual or perceptual pollution by its novelty… . “
“The Protection system of properties, regulated in Chapter
III, integrates the limitations contained in state legislation
regarding their displacement, in matters of visual pollution,
and develops the authorisations system.”
In the regulatory body, this intention of control on visual pollution
is reflected in Article 19 “Visual or perceptual pollution”.
The content of the Plan is regulated in Article 31 “Content of the
Protection of Plans”, referred to the Special Protection Plans affect-
ing Historical Areas, as it is the case, indicate in point 1, that they
should contain at least, among others,:
“f) The prescriptions for the preservation of the general char-
acteristics of the environment, with control regulations on
visual or perceptual pollution.”
Finally, within the regulatory text, in its third transitory provision
“Visual Decontamination” it is stated that:
Within a period three years from the entry into force of the
Law, municipalities that are in the situation referred to in Ar-
ticle 19 thereof shall develop a plan for visual or perceptual
decontamination to be approved by the relevant Department
in terms of historical heritage.
Persons or entities owning facilities or elements included in Article
19, existing to the entry into force of this Act, shall be required to
remove them within a period of three years.“
This provision indicates the obligation to draw up a decontami-
nation plan that responds to that provided in Article 19, without
specifying its content, or its processing.
Purpose of the document
The purpose of this document is the analysis of the existing visual
or perceptual pollution in the Sector 6 “Real Alcázar” of the Histor-
ical Site and the proposal of certain measures for the visual decon-
tamination of the sector, to comply with Articles 19 and 31.1. of Law
14/2007 of 26 November on the Andalusian Historical Heritage,
concerning to the required content for Special Protection Plans,
and to what is ordered in the First Transitory Provision, which es-
tablishes the obligation to draft a Visual or Perceptual Decontami-
nation Plan for the Sector.
Visual or Perceptual Pollution.
Visual pollution is a vaguely defined concept, though it is com-
monly associated with anything that affects or disrupts the view
of some element or breaks the aesthetics of an area or landscape.
In general, it refers to the abuse of certain ephemeral elements, not
architectural, altering the aesthetic, the image of the rural land-
scape and especially the urban one, although its persistence in time
makes them everyday elements.
There are many different threats to the historical-artistic heritage
but perhaps one of the most worrying threats today, probably due
to the lack of social awareness, is visual pollution.
At this point, it’s well-known that there is chaos in the existing in-
stallation of advertisements, posters, cables, poles, antennas, bus
shelters, meters, awnings, etc., which represent an assault on the
contemplation of the historical heritage. But not only these ele-
ments are affecting the contemplation of properties, there are others
that are not taken into account such as the treatments of pavements,
the street furniture, or the new solar energy or air conditioning in-
stallations, required by the society and that can hardly be reconciled
with constructions where these requirements were waived.
The problem of visual pollution is a complex fact in which different
organisms, both public and private, intervene, and should intervene.
Thus we have, within the public bodies, the various Administrations
(state, regional and municipal), each of them with specific compe-
tences; and on the other hand the private bodies, ie, all companies
supplying services that are required for the proper development of
human activity: water, electricity, gas, telecommunications, etc.
The analysis methodology to be followed for the study of the sec-
tor with regard to the visual or perceptual pollution is:
• Identification of those elements susceptible to produce visual
pollution.
• General analysis and diagnosis of the sector, with a tour around
the same identifying those pollutants elements.
• Individualized analysis and diagnosis of the monumental build-
ings of the Sector, not just those elements inscribed on the
General Catalogue of the Andalusian Historical Heritage, but of
all the catalogued buildings with the greatest degree of protec-
tion, “A” and “B”.
• Individualized analysis and diagnosis of the buildings listed with
the degrees of protection, “C” and “D”.
Identification of the elements susceptible to produce Visual
Pollution.
The Law of Historical Heritage of Andalusia establishes in Arti-
cle 19 that the visual or perceptual pollution will be understood
as any intervention, use or action of the property or its protective
environment that degrades the values, as well any interference that
