The study has developed an online geospatial database for assessing the complexity of roadway heritage, overcoming the limitations of traditional heritage catalogues and databases: the itemization of heritage assets and the rigidity of the database structure. Reflecting the current openness in the field of heritage studies, the research proposes an interdisciplinary approach that reframes heritage databases, both conceptually and technologically. Territorial scale is key for heritage interpretation, the complex characteristics of each type of heritage, and social appropriation. The system is based on an open-source content-management system and framework called ProcessWire, allowing flexibility in the definition of data fields and serving as an internal working tool for research collaboration. Accessibility, flexibility, and ease of use do not preclude rigor: the database works in conjunction with a GIS (Geographic Information System) support system and is complemented by a bibliographical archive. A hierarchical multiscalar heritage characterization has been implemented in order to include the different territorial scales and to facilitate the creation of itineraries. Having attained the main goals of conceptual heritage coherence, accessibility, and rigor, the database should strive for broader capacity to integrate GIS information and stimulate public participation, a step toward controlled crowdsourcing and collaborative heritage characterization.

The Ciudad Sindical de Vacaciones [Vacation City for Workers] (VCW) constitutes a reference of leisure architecture in Spain during the Franco regime. Starting with a literature review and the process of its cataloguing and protection, the focus lies on the last of these structures ever to be implemented, built in Marbella and the only one still in use. It, then, traces the evolution in Spanish spatial formalization of workers rest, from the urban modern vocation of the GATEPAC (Group of Spanish Artists and Technicians for Contemporary Architecture, 1930–1936) proposals during the Second Republic, to the Vacation Cities for Workers of the dictatorship, idealised as islands in privileged enclaves. Finally, reflections on transformations underwent in the VCW of Marbella, in the context of its heritage value, will be made.

The methodological revolution of the Bologna Plan has placed students at the center of the teaching-learning processes, encouraging their participation based on a symmetrical dialogue with the teaching staff. The methodologies thus become more active and require a greater commitment on the part of the students in their training and in the acquisition of knowledge and skills. Within the area of knowledge of History, Theory and Composition of Architecture, we propose a responsible appropriation of the learning processes. For this, from a creative use of the supports and insisting on their architectural specificity, the strategies are based on gamification and creativity, within a cooperative learning methodology. In this paper we present a training activity in the framework of learning the history of the contemporary city in the last year of architecture at the School of Seville. La revolución metodológica del Plan Bolonia ha llevado al estudiantado a situarse en el centro de los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje, incentivando su participación basada en un diálogo simétrico con el profesorado. Las metodologías se vuelven así más activas y requieren de un mayor compromiso por parte del estudiantado en su formación y en la adquisición de conocimientos y habilidades. Dentro del área de conocimientos de Historia, Teoría y Composición de la Arquitectura, les proponemos una apropiación responsable de los procesos de aprendizaje. Para ello, desde un uso creativo de los soportes e insistiendo en la especificidad arquitectónica de los mismos, las estrategias se basan en la gamificación y en la creatividad, dentro de una metodología de aprendizaje cooperativo. En esta comunicación presentamos una actividad formativa en el marco del aprendizaje de la historia de la ciudad contemporánea en el último curso de arquitectura en la Escuela de Sevilla.

Cataloguing constitutes the main instrument for heritage assessment and management around the world, and is central in heritage studies. In the context of the growing international protection of heritage since the 20th century and the irruption and implementation of digital tools, cultural heritage data bases (CHDBs) have emerged as the main systems in accounting for and monitoring heritage. In the framework of culture preservation, as a driving force of sustainable development, this article aims to analyse the origins and development of CHDBs in order to critically observe the current situation and outline future challenges for systems of cataloguing heritage with the growing relevance of its graphical documentation. In this context, a historical overview of the origin and development of the European inventories since the 18th century to the present is key to trace the development of catalogue systems and the impact of IT in this field. The study then focuses on immovable cultural heritage data bases (ICHDBs); with Spain as case study, it develops an approach to the current panorama, with a special focus on the conceptual evolution of catalogues. In conclusion, ICHDBs need to transcend both instrumental and institutional roles and, supported in new digital systems, become interactive and flexible tools that respond to current needs and encourage heritage education, knowledge, and reflection.