A preservação do patrimônio ferroviário através da revitalização para o uso turístico: um estudo das estações ferroviárias de Canela e Passo Fundo, RS.

Abstract

Rail transport has indelibly marked the urban and social development of many locations, with railway stations assuming crucial roles due to their material and symbolic attributes. The decay of the railway system and the consequent deactivation of structures related to it, such as railway stations, makes it essential to investigate how new uses impact the preservation of these places considering their heritage character. In that way, the general objective of this study is to analyze how the revitalization of Canela and Passo Fundo railway stations and their destination for tourist use contribute to the railway memory and the preservation of the railway heritage. As for the specific objectives, it proposes to: identify the aspects that configure the railway stations of Canela and Passo Fundo as heritage; understand the role of tourism in the use and preservation of revitalized spaces and understand how revitalization contributes to the maintenance of railway memory. With a qualitative approach and use of a descriptive comparative method, the study analyzes the stations of Canela and Passo Fundo from three categories of analysis: regarding the allocation of use and use of spaces, regarding legibility and regarding elements that refer to the railway memory. Data collection involved bibliographic and documentary research, on-site visits and structured interviews. The correlation between the information obtained revealed that the revitalizations, as they involve uses related to tourist activity, provided a greater use of spaces, with an increase in frequency and flows. Tourism does not invalidate the heritage character of the railway stations, but reinforces it by allowing people to have contact with these places through public use. The revitalizations also use terms and elements that refer to the railway memory, encouraging the recognition and preservation of heritage.