A paisagem industrial no início do século XXI: transformações da paisagem e o (re)conhecimento do Patrimônio Industrial em Caeté (MG)

Abstract

The first moment of the Brazilian industrialization is considered the beginning of the twentieth century. The main industries installed at this moment are the textile, metallurgical and steel facilities. As a locational strategy, these complex industries were settled in regions farthest from the major urban centers. This decision demanded their self-supply of raw materials and basic resources for their maintenance and the need to seek in the vicinity the workforce necessary for their production. It is the context of the formation of various experiences of working-class villages in Brazil as a way to undertaken the industriess demand of labour supplying. The most part of these facilities were concentrated in the southeastern region of the country and several units were in the State of Minas Gerais. The study of this research consists of analysing the Operational Housing Set located in José Brandão, a neighbourhood of the city of Caeté, Minas Gerais. This Housing Set, linked to the Companhia Ferro Brasileiro, is one of the records of the mining experience of implanting the factory system with a working village. The working-class villages and operational housings became a space for production and reproduction of working life. This place has also become an extension of factorys control and hierarchy. The maintenance and permanence of the workers in these villages was associated with the provision of services such as schools, hospitals, health services and, in some cases, cinemas and leisure clubs. With the growth and increase of population concentration in Brazilian cities at the end of the twentieth century, these villages and workers' housing complexes, which were once segregated from urban space, began integrated in it and, in some cases turned as urban space itself, becoming new cities. At the beginning of the 21st century, these working environments are constituted as components of the Urban Landscape and become records of this industrial period. However, this environment exposed to various transformations is subject of deadlocks because it becomes (re)known as Industrial Heritage and, at the same time, it remains as a place of production and reproduction of contemporary life whose new needs and requests influence directly at this built environment. In Brazil, the industrial heritage and its landscape researches are relatively recent and this field is under construction. The recognition of these manufacturing environments are embryonic actions that require stimulation. This research proposes contribute with the discussion process about the recognition and valorization of these industrial spaces. More than the heritage approach of this space, it seeks to reflect on the management of this built environment, contemplate the diversity and complexity of the various groups and social agents that inhabit it and transform it from the daily life of city life. The interdisciplinary approach is fundamental for this work because it proposes the intensification of the dialogue and conceptual and methodological integration in the different fields of knowledge for example: Architecture, Economics, Geography, Urban Planning, sociology