The field of cultural heritage has experienced great transformations through time – a chronological, typographical and geographical ampliation (Choay, 2001). Natural heritage is part of the discussions about this trajectory, wherein the many conceptions it acquired through time rely on different values, be it in a broader sense, or even in relation to nature and the very idea of heritage itself. It is observable that, traditionally, the field of natural heritage has based itself on ideas of monumentality, intangibility and, sometimes, on the idea of national identity – conceptions which emphasize certain social representations of nature, and which many times rely on the idea of “intrinsic value”. Although these are not fully overcome ideas, conceptions have broadened in our contemporaneity, aiming the paths of urbanization and exploration of “natural resources”, thus highlighting scientifical and ecological values of such areas, and even perspectives which also relate preservation to the dimension of daily life (Scifoni, 2006). The case study will deal with the preservation policies of natural heritage in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. This study intends to demonstrate in what ways different values influenced preservation policies – which were considered by Brazilian researchers as innovative in the field, and in which the concept of landscape worked as a guiding north and the urban context where the heritage lied was considered, resulting in significant listings in the state. On the other hand, this study also intends to deal with the current process of deregulation of such policies, bearing in mind the functions attributed over these preserved areas, which often evidence a great contradiction between the values and intents involved, in a process which idealizes and at the same time pressures natural heritage._x000D_
The author: master’s degree student in geography at Universidade Estadual de Campinas, with a research internship period at Universidad de Sevilla.
Vitória Eichenberger
Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
ID Abstract: 772