Um centro para uma cidade (pós-)moderna: a requalificação do Centro Histórico de Fortaleza

Abstract

Taking the reality of Fortaleza, this research does a discussion about a usual process to the towns around the world, like Barcelona, Boston or São Paulo. It’s a diffusion of requalification projects in old downtowns that appears with a Public and Private partners, mainly in last half of twentieth century. It’s a valorization of symbolic and economic aspect from the “cultural products” that historic areas, like old downtowns, can give. Three kinds of discussions are constitutive: 1) talk about the concept of this cultural politics; 2) analyze the projects to Fortaleza’s downtown area; and 3) talk about the results that have been constructed in “requalificated” areas, doing the investigation with field observations. This last one step has the concept of “contra-usos” (LEITE, 2004) or how the social groups expropriate the thinking of “gentrificated” areas. This is a strategy to do a parallel behind global and local requalifications, understanding what is valorized and the actors in this process.