March 24, 2022

Heritages of Portuguese Influence

Walter Rossa e Andréa Sampaio

This thesis discusses and evaluates how the urbanistic heritage in contexts of Portuguese influence appear at the base of patrimonialization and urban management policies. The role of cultural heritage in the sustainable development of cities is based on the background, above all, on the view of the impacts generated by the processes of globalization, by the accelerated growth of precarious settlements, by the real estate speculation, among others.

For this purpose, we resorted to a global, rather than comparative, analysis of representative case studies which belong to this subject. Five cities have been selected: Island of Mozambique and Maputo, in Mozambique; Mindelo, in Cape Verde; Ouro Preto and Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. Their differences in terms of context, size or dimension were not seen as obstacles, but as opportunities to diversify the perspectives. In addition to having striking features of a common urbanistic culture, these cities have numerous convergences that connect them in a pertinent debate about the challenges of their cultural heritage and urban development. Considering the peculiarities of each context, we have tried to establish a theoretical-critical basis in order to question the policies related to this urbanistic heritage.

Before analyzing the case studies, a theoretical and conceptual path on urbanistic heritage protection and management policies was drawn up. This theoretical framework was established, based on the works of internationally relevant authors, and also on the recommendations, conventions and doctrinal documents about the subject. Based on this framework, some key concepts and cultural values, which are considered to be essential, were discussed.

Diversified bibliographical references and empirical data collected in the field work have been used in order to make a presentation-analysis of the case studies. For each case a framework of the actual legal apparatus related to heritage and urban management policies has been compiled and organized.

As a consequence of the search, there has been, at last, a global integrated and propositional analysis of the critical aspects found in the case studies. This analysis was based on the crossing of common challenges and potentials, which aimed at understanding the feasibility and practical application of theoretical concepts and approaches, and also on the investigation of learning experiences. Based on this framework, the indication of directions with synergistic potential was tested so that the cultural values of this heritage could help to leverage sustainable development models for cities and, in particular, for their communities. Finally, the relevance of understanding and questioning certain precepts and doctrines based on comprehensive views of different realities became clear

Keywords: heritages of portuguese influence; urbanistic heritage; patrimonialization; management; sustainable development