Referências culturais enquanto processo histórico de ocupação no litoral norte de Maceió: em ameaça ou em nova acomodação?

Abstract

This study aims to discuss about the impacts of real estate expansion in progress on the north coast of Maceió City, Alagoas State, Brazil, comprising the neighborhoods of Cruz das Almas, Jacarecica, Guaxuma, Garça Torta, Riacho Doce, Pescaria, and Ipioca as defined by the Master Plan of Maceió Municipality (2005). Aiming to meet the public demand of residents and tourists, looking for the benefits of living arrangements and entertainment by the sea, in 2007, the new Code of Urbanism and Buildings of Maceió allowed the construction of vertical buildings up to twenty floors in the area, contradicting the basic principles on urban-environmental protection. These areas with memories that go back to the first occupations in Alagoas territory have history fragments of cultural and practices knowledge that are interrelated and in conjunction with the space and social contexts in the surroundings. This study encourages further information about the impacts caused by real estate speculation in areas of relevant landscape and cultural value, identifying the conditions, problems, and challenges for its continuity, especially considering that this urban expansion has been highlighting the landscape with vertical buildings, therefore, nonexistent. For this purpose, this study sought to identify the cultural and symbolic foundations that defined the territorial occupation of the north coast of Maceió, from authors like Lindoso (2005, 2000), Costa (1983), Lima (1997), Albuquerque (1981), Carvalho (216) among others, besides the revision of the bibliographic sources about the Master Plan and the Brazilian Legislation on cultural and environmental heritage. Thus, this study intends to collaborate with the praxis of preservation policy currently in force, considering the review of new concepts and legal tools that allow understanding properly the patrimonial value of the natural environments and vigorous cultural processes consolidated in the materiality of the northern seaboard of Maceió.