Landscape management, city management: what are the legacies of World Heritage Rio de Janeiro?

Abstract

This paper debates the relation among the inscription of Rio de Janeiro city on Unesco World Heritage List, the emergence of landscape as an instrument of public policies and the constitution of new political spaces of heritage, and city management. Presented in two parts, the article first discusses the context and legacy of Rio de Janeiro’s nomination process on Unesco World Heritage List for debating urban landscape and policies in Brazil based on three central themes: the landscape at the center of public attention, the widening of the applied notion of landscape, and the need for participation by creating management political spaces. In the second part, taking into account the recent discussion of political geography on the characteristics of political spaces, from the observation of Rio de Janeiro’s Landscape Management Committee meetings , the article points out the challenges still existing concerning the needs and wants the inscription brings up, and the obstacles for reaching its full potential, especially for the constitution of new and more democratic models of managing through political spaces of city and heritage management.