The paper discusses how a Geographic Information System (GIS) contributes to set up a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for the sustainable preservation of a 20th-century architectural masterpiece. The National Art Schools of Cuba are presented as a case study. The complex consists of five iconic buildings built in the early 1960s within a 56-hectare city-park. Since they are today underused and in a poor state of conservation, a research project among Italy, Cuba, and the US addressed a CMP’s preparation between 2018 and 2020. A GIS was prepared to collect and manage the whole data, based on graphic support consistent with both the site’s features and the research’s goal, to set up a comprehensive Conservation Management Plan. By illustrating this experience’s pros and cons, the paper discusses how GIS may contribute to the conservation and sustainable management of such extensive 20th-century architectural complexes.

The contribution presents part of activities that have been carried out for the preparation of the Conservation Plan of the Giancarlo De Carlo’s University Colleges of Urbino, funded by the Getty Foundation within the “Keeping it Modern” program in 2015. Starting form a comprehensive evaluation and understanding of the values that are represented in the complex, the Conservation Plan aims at establishing a “sustainable” management strategy, which means finding a “point of balance” between conservation and change, between an important cultural value, which has led to an international recognition, and the demands of everyday management. Within the Conservation Plan, specific guidelines for the preservation of modern materials and architectural elements and a schedule of interventions, preventive activities and controls are being developed. This paper presents the first steps of the research, the results already achieved and the themes currently being discussed.