Art and Industrial Heritage: Reuse and Regeneration in Rio de Janeiro´s Old Docklands Area

This paper emphasizes the practice of cultural heritage regeneration attentive to diversity and mixtures of cultures and the interrelationships with urban and cultural policies in a historic neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, where deactivated industrial sheds have been vacant for decades although still reflecting the activities of the old docklands and its social activities. In search of social diversity and the mixture between diverse cultures in one of the oldest regions of Rio de Janeiro, this proposal aims to integrate different social classes in artistic activities produced by various ethnic groups who still live in the delimited neighborhoods. Drawing on successful experiences, such as Galpão da Utopia, occupied by the Companhia Ensaio Aberto a few years ago, this research examines the occupation of former industrial warehouses based on the theories of Lefebvre (1974) and de Certeau (1980), while also grounded in Kühl’s discussions of the restoration and reuse of industrial heritage (2002). After research on the available warehouses, we recommend the restoration of six deactivated buildings, proposing to reuse them with community artistic activities that return this historical heritage to local populations, thereby contributing to the cultural diversity of the region occupied in different temporalities by Afro-descendants, Portuguese, and immigrants of different origins.

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ISBN
978-1-944214-31-9