HA del castillo is a project that allows us to work on depopulation issues in our rural areas and our heritage through play. A didactical project aimed at young population which results will serve for the implementation of the citizens heritage value (without focusing interest in tourism exploitation) because it must be addressed in a transversal way, and helps to through know that the monumental heritage can be positioned within the neighborhood in which they are enslaved through their memory and collective identity.

HA del castillo! is a project that allows us to work on depopulation issues in our rural areas and our heritage through play. While the castles, that crown most of the Spanish towns, are a powerful focus of tourist attraction, the historic neighborhoods located at the foot of the defensive construction have often been excluded from social and urban advances, so they are in emptying and social degradation process. This phenomenon often creates a physical and social barrier between the two spaces (castle / historical neighborhood), historically related. As a result of our experience in heritage didactics, ARAE Patrimonio para niños has carried out the project throughout the Spanish geography to implement and test a reality in heritage: the existing disengagement between the monuments and their surroundings and the importance of heritage education. Using creativity, architecture, culture and heritage as social and inclusion tool, and with the maximum purpose of encourage the population awareness for their heritage, we have researched from an architectural, sociological, urban and citizen participation prism, and thereby we have obtained tools to improve the perception of those neighborhoods, improvements in tourist/neighborhood behaviors. The activity uses creative works for the purpose of dissemination of heritage, in a correct way to transmit and share with others. It is the means that our team uses to generate overlapping readings that bring the citizenry closer to the heritage making it closer and more accessible to all. HA del castillo! has been developed in 12 historical spanish sites during the last 18 month. Project supported by a 2018 Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators, BBVA Foundation

Across Europe there is an incredible network of defensive constructions that, being a faithful witness to different moments in the history of one or several countries, becomes a incredible test map of reality that this project wants to demonstrate: the existing disengagement between the monuments and their surroundings and the importance of heritage education. European defensive heritage is a cross-region tourism development resource to be reviewed. One of the tasks that we carry out is to work tourism, but to enhance the work since the recovery of the neighborhood that welcomes it. The international dimension of this work is an excellent enhancer of possibilities.