Sustainable management of cultural landscape: legacies and lessons from the experience of Paranapiacaba

Abstract

The harmonic relationship between heritage preservation and socioeconomic development is a challenge constantly present while managing historic sites. Recent approaches, such as cultural landscape, focus on interdisciplinarity and territory as keys to develop integrated policies that go beyond traditional dichotomies, including the still diametrical detachment of managing natural, cultural, material and imaterial heritages. On the basis of the Paranapiacaba’s (Santo André-SP) Sustainable Development Programme, this article will present how this segment’s policies were designed and implemented in an articulate manner, highlighting the main legacies and lessons gathered from this experience. Through the decentralized public management, between 2001 and 2008, it was possible to integrate policies of cultural heritage preservation, environmental conservation, community tourism, social development, urban planning and citizen participation necessary for the recovery of this precious heritage and the promotion of sustainable development. Because of its innovations and achievements, this experience has been recognized by Brazilian agencies, such as IPHAN and the Ministry of Cities, and by international organizations, such as the World Heritage Studies Program at the Brandenburg University of Technology.