Paper short abstract:

Worldwide the use of glazed tiles as colour and cladding in architectural spaces is a living cultural heritage. Their presence in urban spaces embodies cultural, artistic and functional principles, relating past and present, people and places.

Paper long abstract:

Since the beginning of the history of humanity, surfaces of inhabited environments have been privileged places to express individual cultural identity. All over the world, and throughout the times, the employ of ceramic tiles as architectural skin, has been a vehicle of communication for erudite and popular imagination, illustrating cultures, conveying ideas and ideals, expressing tradition and history. They relate built environment and users, appealing to the senses, communicating messages, and transforming the spectator into an actor.

The emotional, cultural and communication features of glazed tiles, strengthen by their longevity, enabled the creation of a cultural identity legacy - a repository of memories, conveying a sense of belonging, creating a "sense of place".

Glazed tiles, small pieces of fired earth, reveal local wealth, illustrate regional colours, and represent the community progression. Their qualities and meaning are undoubtedly place specific and time bounded, in relation to natural local materials.

The possibility to customize tiles production at every stage enables its use in different cultural and geographical contexts, materializing different languages and expressions according to local living and architecture specificity, respecting the concept of a sustainable growing of our global society.

This study aims to clarify the role of the ceramic glazed tiles as cultural and historical legacy, substantiating its potential as a qualifying element on vital and stimulating environments, demonstrating its viability as a sustainable solution in the transformation of urban territories in places.