The preservation of railway heritage in small towns: an analysis of the Rio Grande Line Mogiana Railway Company (Linha do Rio Grande Companhia Mogiana de Estradas de Ferro)

• Grant number: 22/08609-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2023
• End date: July 15, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Fundamentals of Architecture and Urbanism
• Principal Investigator: Beatriz Mugayar Kühl
• Grantee: Beatriz Alves Goulart Rocha
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/16087-2 - Preservation of railway heritage in small cities: an analysis of the Rio Grande Line - Companhia Mogiana., BE.EP.DR

Abstract

This research project intends to continue the author's investigations about the aggravation of the difficulties of heritage preservation in small towns, analyzing, then, the railway heritage and its specificities through the Rio Grande Line -Mogiana Railway Company (Linha do Rio Grande - Companhia Mogiana de Estradas de Ferro). It is worth noting that in the country, the operation of the railways was marked by crises, which, added to the natural degradation of the buildings (KÜHL, 2018, p. 187), made many of their material testimonies become remnants of a period of relevant urban transformations. In addition, the treatment of these assets is often limited to isolated buildings, disregarding their implementation and territorial scale, something that has already been debated by researchers. However, it can be seen that the heritage of small towns are still poorly analyzed and, from a preliminary survey, it was found that there was a lack of discussions about the scope of the study, since it is the first way to cross Rio Grande by means of trails in the region. Despite its importance, it is clear that the memory of this line, which passes largely through small towns, is fragmented and, in this way, it is expected to understand the main factors that prevent the reading of the set, if there are presence of effective safeguard actions and where they are concentrated. In this way, through an analytical-qualitative approach, bibliographic and documentary research will be carried out, as well as records in field work, referring to this railroad. Thus, through a synthesis based on theoretical-practical references that consider the railway heritage in its complexity, it is expected to propose guidelines for the preservation of heritage in the study region, especially in the case of small towns, and to contribute to the discussions in the area. (AU)