Revitalizar o território do Alto Douro - A linha férrea de Pocinho a Barca d'Alva

Abstract

The Alto Douro Wine Region landscape was the result of a colossal work by man in an unhostile and stiff territory. In order to cultivate the vineyard on the steep and rugged slopes, man moulded the landscape. Terraces, schist supporting walls and water retention systems were built, along with other identity and cultural marks which are already part of Alto Douro Wine Region genetics. The 2001 nomination of this landscape by UNESCO as an "Evolving and Living Cultural Landscape" has generated awareness and urgency for its preservation. Despite its international recognition, there are still persisting problems that could be transformed into new opportunities to revitalize the territory. The scarcity and difficulty of the accesses, the obsolete unused railway line, as well as the lack of services and infrastrucutures, support populational fixation and attraction deficiency. It's necessary to pay more attention to inhabitants and visitors that, in the last instance, are the ones ensuring the continuity of this evolving cultural landscape. The proposed study focuses on a portion of this territory that was once inhabited and visited and which remains today as a memory of what it once was - the old Douro railway line from Pocinho to Barca D'Alva. The objective is to draw and (re)think the territory through the mapping and the critical analysis of what exists. The regeneration of this path-infrastructure empowers intersections, helps to fix population and reinforces several networks, with an impact that extends far beyond Alto Douro Wine Region.