Natural Heritage and Landscape: the critical areas of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo

Abstract

This project aims to identify and analyze the symbolic character and the institutional actions adopted in order to recognize the São Paulo Metropolitan Region's natural heritage, particularly in relation to the natural assets which were classified as critical and ecologically strategic areas (AB'SÁBER, 1977). In order to do so, the intent here is to identify the changes which made possible to frame nature in the field of cultural policies, and in what way the theme of natural heritage was approached by preservation institutions in the international, national, and state levels. This research is justified, mainly, by the fact that these are areas intensely pressured by interests, such as those of real estate, of industrial, of agricultural and mineral exploration sectors, and at the same time, because they present resources which are essential to the maintenance of the metropolis' life. Besides, they possess a landscape value which confers visual and symbolic identity to a region of concentrated urbanization; they are territories normalized for preservation, with more rigid legislation and direct interference in the usage of the territory; they are spatially peripheric in relation to the metropolis, with inherent socio-spatial contradictions - at times devalued by the location of "illegal cities", at others valued as "urban amenities", associated to the valuing of the natural landscape and to the quality of life discourse, configurating spaces of reproduction for the high end real estate sector. Starting with a case study of the listing of Reserva Estadual Cantareira and Horto Florestal (CONDEPHAAT, 1978), the aim is to identify and analyze the elements highlighted above.