O patrimônio cultural tangível na construção da cidade sustentável

Abstract

This paper articulates the tensions and opportunities brought up by the relationship between cultural heritage conservation and the urbanization process. The persistent neglect with which Brazilian urban policies have been treating cities’ heritages shows how this discussion needs to be taken further off and used as a catalyst mechanism in order to connect, in a consistent way, heritage management actions and urban development policies. The issues undertaken at a theoretical level should be answered through the analysis of a concrete case – The Alagadiço Novo Historical Site, Fortaleza, CE - and culminate in an intervention proposal to its spatial dynamic. The site assembles the necessary conditions for the evaluation being classified as an urban cultural asset that suffers with urban pressures, i.e. impacts of real estate speculation, illegal occupation and the implementation of non-articulated projects. In terms of methodology, the idea was to investigate the nature of the site’s relation with its surroundings, with the local community and, in a larger scale, with the city, all that by studying the evolution process of the local built environment and its socio-environmental impacts. The chosen approach seeks to point out the role of the cultural asset on urban quality as it presents the possibility to incorporate answers to the fairer dynamic of the city. The paper culminates with a proposal of readjustment of uses and infrastructure works for the sites’ surroundings by setting new guidelines for the planning and management of that sector of the city.