The Place of the Urban Heritage in Dynamics of the City of Natal-RN
Preservation policies. Urban planning. Cultural heritage. Historic center. Natal-RN
This dissertation deals with public policies for urban areas of heritage value, based on the case study of the central area of Natal, capital city of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The main objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of preservation policies designed for the historic center of Natal in the face of the processes of production of the urban space in progress in the city. For this, we use the methodological theoretical reference of Milton Santos (2006, 2012) and David Harvey (2006, 2011, 2013, 2014) to read the urban dynamics of the city, through spatialisation in the territory of residential, commercial and institutional uses. In a second moment, we focus on the preservation policies taken by the three levels of government in the central area of Natal, emphasizing the current actions, which are: the Growth Acceleration Program for Historical Cities (Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento para as Cidades Históricas – PAC-CH), launched by the Federal Government; Ribeira Urban Operation and proposed revision of the Consortium for Urban Operation of the Historic Center, under the responsibility of the City Hall; as well as the package of urban and architectural projects contracted by the Government of the State for the Rehabilitation of the Historical Center of Natal. Finally, we will assess how the historical center "project" embedded in these policies relates, takes into account or not, the real dynamics of the city as a whole.