Ten issues ago, I began my work as General Editor of Estoa magazine. Five years have passed since Editorial 17, in which we thought that with each new issue of the journal, we could not lose the sense of continuity and simultaneously of daily renewal, with our editorial team innovating relentlessly, to return after six months with a more rigorous and vigorous publication. In that edition, we published eight scientific articles with national, regional and Ibero-American presence. Our editorial team consisted of two editors, nine members of the scientific council and two professionals dedicated to editorial management and production.

We are proud that during this time, we have achieved indexing in Scopus, as well as several national and international awards and recognitions, which also means an enormous commitment to the Research Center of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of Cuenca, where the journal is edited. Our editorial team today consists of six editors, 18 new members of the Editorial Advisory Board, and five professionals in charge of editorial management and production. This edition, the first of the quarter-century, contains 16 scientific articles, all of which can be read in English. The research results are located in seven countries on three continents: Spain, China, Argentina, Turkey, Mexico, Ecuador and Ukraine.

Below, we reaffirm our commitment to open science with global impact in our areas of knowledge. From the history and conservation of architectural heritage, three articles are presented. ^{Fuertes-Dopico, Fernández-Penedo and Fabregat-Nodar (2025}) present the Trasalatio project that shows the results of research on maritime heritage in coastal Galicia, involving the local population and encouraging intergenerational dialogue and the transmission of this heritage as a trace of identity.

Within the framework of studies on the formation of architecture and urban planning in China, ^{Pugacheva and Kim (2025}) identify and define the urban planning structure of Shenyang and the singularities of its planning structure in the first half of the 20th century. The influence of Russian and Japanese architecture schools on developing the city's master plan structure is evident. In this area, ^{Suden (2025}) begins with the issue of restricted heritage processes to analyze the distribution and typology of heritage assets in the northern oasis of Mendoza, thus clarifying an understanding of heritage associated with the monumental and singular urban concentration of assets, as well as its approach as a decontextualized element.

A second block with a more national presence presents several urban and territorial studies. ^{Savran Penbecioğlu and Yavuz (2025}) explore the working conditions and socio-spatial experiences of women workers in a peanut industry in Osmaniye, Turkey, who play a crucial role in this sector, reflecting a working environment and everyday urban geographies that dramatically reproduce patriarchal logic.

Noting that the transformation of Mexico City in colonial and Porfiriato times has left an imprint on urban (in)sustainability, ^{Jasso-Flores, Escobar-Chanona, and Corona-Núñez (2025}) evaluate urban sustainability in the 21st century using the environmental indicator of forest biomass, which allows us to understand the legacy of this (in)sustainability throughout the periods of urbanization in Mexico.

^{Avalos and Marengo (2025}) show the impact of residential densification and its potential to generate conditions of urbanity in public space in the city of Córdoba through the study of the interrelationships between density ranges, residential types and certain spatial conditions that lead to different urbanities. Under the approach of social production of habitat and the participatory action-research methodology, ^{Poveda-Burgos (2025}) presents a case of intervention in two communities located in Cerro San Eduardo in the city of Guayaquil, demonstrating improvements in coexistence conditions, as well as the built and natural environment of the inhabitants.

In turn, ^{Moreira Torres and Moretta Macias (2025}) evaluate the quality of territorial governance in the post-earthquake recovery efforts after the April 2016 incident in the city of Portoviejo, studying the articulation between the public and private sectors, as well as citizen participation in all urban regeneration programs. It finds that despite addressing social, economic, and environmental aspects, regeneration processes remain exposed to vulnerabilities and threats. Agroproductive soils in Ambato, Ecuador, under a historical analysis of urban limits and anthropic zones, as well as the evaluation of agricultural soil quality. ^{Torres-Espinoza and Delgado-Bohórquez (2025}) define the connectivity of ecological corridors between protected areas in the cantonal area of Guayaquil through the connection of ecosystems, linking the rural periphery with the urban core for the sustainability of the urban green structure, managing to identify ecological corridors suitable for strategic territorial planning.

Two articles focus on architectural projects. On the one hand, ^{Bamba Vicente, Sandoya Lara, and Ríos Aguaiza (2025}) trace the genealogy of housing-related events from the 1970s in Latin America, focusing on the case of Guayaquil up to 2017, where they observe the connection between public housing policies promoted by the State and the housing actions that arise as a result of such policies. And in another context, based on the spatial-functional crisis of Ecuador's prisons, ^{Flores-Silva and Sarzosa-Soto (2025}) analyze the location, the architectural program, the spatial relationships, and the environmental conditions inside the Tungurahua Deprivation of Liberty Center, and how they affect the rehabilitation and reintegration process of persons deprived of liberty. The configuration of a detrimental spatial environment that deepens the deterioration of their physical and psychological well-being is evidenced.

The teaching of architecture is reinforced with three articles. ^{Espinoza Riera, Marx, Cevallos, Hidalgo, and Godoy (2025}) present a project of the Observatory of the Production of the Ecuadorian Territory in the Commonwealth of the Andean Chocó, guided by a pedagogy that horizontally connects teachers, students and social actors for the exchange of knowledge from territorial action; which allows discussing pedagogical elements of a transformative praxis within academic communities.

^{Kırkan, Taşcı, and Güzelci (2025}) present a method to examine the relationship between “spatial visibility” and “image conservation”. This plan, applied in three cases, evaluates spatial visibility using 3D Isovista analysis and investigates whether people can complete a route using the “image conservation” process at sites with limited visibility. The results indicate that spatial learning is more effective in areas with high visibility during the navigation processing. Within the same field, ^{Akdoğan, Alaçam, and Yağmur-Kilimci (2025}) studied the influence of academic discipline on higher-dimensional visuospatial skills among university students by examining their performance on a novel nD cube mental rotation task. It suggests that architectural education can improve visuospatial skills by emphasizing cognition and spatial representation throughout the academic curriculum.

Finally, in the field of technology, in response to rapid digital developments in construction efficiency. ^{Emelianova, Tytok, Lavrukhina, Shatrova, and Demydova (2025}) analyze the impact of digital changes on technology and organization of construction activities in Ukraine. Innovations such as BIM, IoT, and AI are determined to be the most important for the construction organization, creating a framework of efficiency-enhancing tactics, including staff training, process optimization, and technology integration.