O "património" enquanto ferramenta de desenvolvimento o caso de dois municípios portugueses

Abstract

The dominant conceptions of development that marked the post-II World War period identified development with economic growth. Such an industrial model was adopted in Portugal from the 60s on, still under the dictatorship named Estado Novo. In the case of Portugal, this economical development model never reached the spectacular increase of productivity and growth achieved by more advanced societies, even though the country didn't stay immune to some of their "wicked effects" like the territory mess caused on behalf of the concentration of urbanization and industries on coastal areas. However, the 70s coincide both with the arrival of democracy and the emergency of the first criticisms to that traditional conception of development. The alternative model seeks to join cultural and environmental aspects, fighting to connect the needs of modernity with the preservation of cultural and/or natural singularities. In order to translate the new philosophy, there is now the preoccupation to lay the foundations of development on the endogenous potential of regions, emerging "heritage" in its several versions, like an essential element for the life quality of populations. This new concept of development is concerned with values, associating them to a life quality intrinsically connected with "cultural property". Having in mind the new conceptions of development, this article presents the analytical evaluation of effective policies and heritage events. On the one hand, its aim is to elucidate the active role that these cultural policies develop in the modern political systems and, on the other, to check the diverse cultural and environmental goods mobilized for such purposes. In methodological terms, this research makes a comparative analysis of the "heritage projects" operated by two city councils, using data provided directly by them or made available at their digital sites.