Protection and Highlighting of a waterfront zone disposing strong cultural characteristics Helen Maistrou 1 and Dimitris Psychogyios 2 1 School of Architecture N.T.U.A., elmais@central.ntua.gr 2 Dep. of Architecture U.Th.. 17, dcyxos@gmail.com Abstract. The scope of this intervention is to present a project concerning the protection and the functional and aesthetic upgrade of a coastal zone which lies at the tip of the Argolic gulf in the Eastern Peloponnese. The coastal zone con- necting two very well-known historic cities Nafplio and Nea Kios runs for ap- proximately 14 km and it disposes some interesting features. It constitutes an important seaside wetland which concentrates rare flora and fauna species, mainly avifauna, having a particular financial importance for the production cy- cle of food, as well as for the broader balance of the region’s ecology. Important historic and archaeological sites which can and should be highlighted lie in im- mediate vicinity to that part of the coastal zone, as well as historic rivers which flow into the Argolic gulf, all of which offer the occasion to take a cultural route in the outdoors as it combines elements having environmental, historic and re- gional value. The protection and highlighting of this zone will contribute on one hand to the sensitization of the local population in matters of cultural heritage and environmental protection, and on the other to the reinforcement of cultural tourism. The study was interdisciplinary, as it required historical and archaeolog- ical documentation of the intervention site and had to address urban and devel- opment issues, issues of protection of historic sites, natural environment and landscape, architectural issues and issues pertaining to electrical installations, big data and digital enhancement issues and, of course, specialized wetland protec- tion issues. Keywords: historical urban landscapes, digital mapping, network 1 Introduction 1.1 Brief description Firstly, there is a brief description of the research project at the level of analysis and at the proposal level. Subsequently, emphasis is placed on the large volume and types of information for the study area. The successful management of this data constitutes a critical parameter for the sustainability of the area. With this in view, afterwards, there is an outline of the technological directions that are suggested in the work and are based on 'digital mapping' and on 'Networked Distributed micro-Architectural Systems'. Next,