Urban and architectural heritage management: Latin American cities a necessary approach

• Grant number: 09/00549-7
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: May 01, 2009 - October 31, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Fundamentals of Architecture and Urbanism
• Principal researcher: Maria Cristina da Silva Schicchi
• Grantee: Maria Cristina da Silva Schicchi
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo. Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas (PUC-CAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The research aims at studying the recent rehabilitation experiences of downtown areas, buildings and urban ensembles, with two approaches: analysis of the theories that support the programs, the projects proposals and the forms of management and their implementation. The objects under study are particularly the historic centers of a set of Brazilian and Latin American cities that have significant urban and architectural heritage. The aim is to understand the economic, social and spacial factors that could effectively promote quality changes in these central areas. Therefore will be analyzed the program decisions (destination), the implemented architectural and urban proposals, the ways of appropriation and usage of the transformed spaces and the public policies directed to the development of the urban centers. The preferential range of the study in each center will be the transformations and interventions in the remaining buildings and historic ensembles in these areas, as well as the voids and reconverted urban equipments like railways and industries, from which resulted devaluation or stagnation processes, potential catalyst elements of the interventions and inducers of the future transformations. The historic centers that received interventions or have recently defined plans will be analyzed: in the first two years (2009/2010) will be studied six cities: Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Olinda, Montevideo, Habana Vieja and Valparaiso. The aim will be to evidence similar factors that affect the destiny and the preservation of these centers, as well as to characterize and compare the adopted rehabilitation proposals, in order to subsidies urban preservation policies in other Brazilian and Latin American cities. (AU)