(In)visible memories: reflections of the center of Campinas-SP

Abstract

This article, in a qualitative and quantitative way, aims to discuss the relationship between history and the visible and invisible memories of downtown’s users of Campinas city in São Paulo State. In this context, the article intends to discuss the relation of people, place and memory, based on representations of space collected from users on a daily life. By the research field, one was able to collect drawings elaborated by residents and users of the central area of Campinas. Its purpose consists on identifying places of memory – places that are appropriated and preserved through the existence of a shared sense that differentiates them from the others. Within this relationship, the urban / architectural landscape began to determine the memory of places in cities. For this purpose, interviews were conducted with users, demonstrating links between the individual, the urban / architectural city space and the valorization of the urban identity constructed from the memory that individuals retain concerning the city, its heritage, its symbolic references and its representations. These representations raise questions about the way in which heritage and memory have been preserved in the present time