THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF CULTURE AND HERITAGE IN A CONSTRUCTION

OF A COMMUNITY IDENTITY"
Abstract:
The purpose of this communication is to present a reflection on the importance of Culture
and heritage as transmitters of cultural identity, the measure of an identity and image
representing a community, and the contributions of design as a project that ensures the
development of a community identity construction. It discusses the importance of heritage
and culture as a differential factor for the construction of a local identity, since cultural
diversity takes many forms through time and space. Culture constitutes the common heritage
of humanity and should be recognized and affirmed for the benefit of present and future
generations. Culture as a transmitter of messages must be taken and understood as an
essential element in the representation of a place. To understand and build this identity it is
necessary to survey the tangible and intangible heritage, the constructed heritage, from preexisting brands and the culture of the place in relation to the socio-urban, to substantiate a
visual identity representative of the community.
Introduction
At a time when society is devoid of distinctive identity, in which it increasingly appears
that our identity is mixed and diluted with so many others, the boundary between what is ours
and others is lost and causes an increasingly problematic identity, of what we are and what
identifies us as an integral member of a society.
This problem means that it is a growing concern for the preservation of our values, culture,
and heritage because these identify our local identity and distinguish them from others.
In this context, concepts such as culture, heritage and identity and interleave-disclosure
occur in the same global channels. The local identity is based, often in historic buildings and
heritage landmarks.
This heritage gives us information about our history, our culture, our origin, thus
contributing to the identity of a group, locality, place or country where it has a key role in our
connection with the past and with our origins. These factors should mean the recovery of
degraded historical centres, the revitalization of old industrial areas, considering a re-use and
recovery of these for cultural use, thus making them an asset, a differential factor.
To speak of heritage often signifies material heritage (physical objects that inherit), but
heritage is more than our memories, individual and collective experiences, it is also
immaterial heritage.
As UNESCO recognizes, it is essential to preserve heritage because it reflects the sociocultural identity and a place, a people or community, since through it the society recognizes
and identifies its own history.
For the above material or immaterial assets (whether built, architectural, archaeological,
religious or artistic) is a key part in representing the cultural identity of a place.

Culture & Identity: merging the concepts or concepts that merge

"The national culture produces feelings about the nation, sentiments with which we
identify ourselves and pod, identity building this way." Hall (1996:51)
Culture and identity are two terms that go hand in hand, i.e. often arise interconnected,
where often a term is used in order to define the other, so it is necessary to identify the
signifcance of each individually to better understand the concept of their union.
There are various definitions of culture, the author Rocher defines culture as:
A bound set of ways of thinking, feeling and acting more or less formalized, being seized
and shared by a plurality of persons, serving a both objective and symbolic way to organize
these people in a particular and distinct community. (Rocher, 1977: 198).
Following the previous definition and pondering its anthropologic meaning Culture will be
able to define culture as a set, material and immaterial, that identifies a particular community
[1] and can be interpreted according to different aspects: through the behavioural mental
characteristics that are unique to human beings, through the analysis that must be brought to
generate behaviours, and through the ability of the human mind in create an infinite flexibility
of reactions, through its symbolic potential and linguistic (Santos, 2005).
According to the anthropological definition mentioned above, we can differentiate two
distinct forms of culture: material and immaterial.
With a significant amount of capital, movable and immovable culture, a country is
exhibited in public institutions or semi-public institutions, such as museums, galleries,
archives, sanctuaries, historic buildings, historic sites, etc. In common, these institutions are
also often repositories of intangible cultural capital, such as local streets, for example; the
mind connects them with its history and the rituals and customs with which they are
associated. Such institutions contribute to cultural production, consumed by local dwellers,
artists and visitors. [2] (UNCTAD, 2010: 116)
Material culture is any product that results from human production, it is the set of artifacts
that combine the raw material and technology, and is different from fixed structures because
of their mobility. Already immaterial culture refers to knowledge that was not transmitted
through books or any other records or forms, but by the cognitive which is transmitted
through the generations in practice.
Models, values and symbols that make up the culture include knowledge, ideas, thought
and cover all forms of expression of feelings, and the rules governing the observable actions
objectively. (Rocher, 1977: 200)
For these reasons, tradition and knowledge are strong factors for the continuation of
intangible culture and the construction of an identity of a community or people.
We can say culture

(...) Encompasses both intangible aspects - beliefs, ideas, values that constitute the content
of culture - as the tangible aspects -. Objects, symbols or technology that represent that
content (Giddens 2009:22)
As previously mentioned, when speaking of culture, inevitably we come across the term
identity, this is because there are many questions about contemporary culture that relate to
issues of identity.
"(...) There is no awareness of identity, whereas identity strategies can manipulate, modify
even when a culture no longer has much in common with what it was before. Culture is
largely an unconscious process. Identity, in turn, refers to a standard of belonging necessarily
conscious, because it is based on symbolic opposition. "(Cuche, 2003:136)
In the broadest sense, identity is an "essential and distinctive set of characteristics (physical
and psychological) someone from a social group or something." [3]
For Castells, identity:
"Is a source of meaning for the actors themselves, originated by them, and constructed
through a process of individuation. (...) The construction of identity draws on the raw material
provided by history, geography, biology, productive and representative instructions, memory,
teaching and personal fantasies, the apparatus of power and revelations of a religious nature.
But all these materials are processed by individuals, social groups and societies, which
organize their meaning in terms of social tendency "(Castells, 2006:23)
In this context the identity of a person, is the set of attributes that makes him special and
unique. Different people may have some characteristics in common, however what
differentiates them is precisely how these features are articulated by their individual training.
"(...) Specifically human construction is expressed through all those universal symbols and
socially shared meanings, allowing a group to start "Being" all that was built as a people and
on which builds a referential speech of belonging and difference: Identity. " (ARIAS,
2002:103)
Following the same reasoning it is possible to affirm that the identity of a place is the
summary of its intrinsic characteristics, which are in turn, the values, signs and
representations that identify its cultural identity or human expressions which distinguish and
identify.
Both the culture and identity of a place are the result of an intersection of its heritage with
its history and evolution over time.
Culture is not a given or a biological heredity, it is a social construction in a located
history, consequently it is a concrete historic product inserted in a history, more specifically
in the history of the interactions that diverse social groups establish.[I] (ARIAS, 2002:9)
A certain place that the inhabitants attach a meaning to is therefore closely linked with the
identity of the subject, i.e. the place affects the way people represent themselves to
themselves. This sense of belonging is developed by the various sensory experiences that the
user experiences on the site, these experiences originate feelings and emotions that mark,
causing a sense of belonging which to take root in the Inhabitant. While humans only

enhance, protect and preserve this conjunction, it is this knowledge that leads to feeling
(liking or not) and consequently the ownership of the site. In short, urban identity is
characterized by the sum of the relationship between the inhabitants with the buildings, the
streets, the squares, i.e., the spaces and the profile of the city and its identity.
In urban identity, consider the forms and the physical elements that define its architectural
typology. This configuration has a historical dimension, which promotes collective memory
in its inhabitants. Perception associated with the site identity is conditioned by prior
knowledge of cultural, artistic, architectural, geographical (among others) that the inhabitant /
user has. Only in this way is it possible to compare it with other urban spaces, and through
this, to create an identity based on the specific cultural features of the site.
Cultural Heritage and Identity: Issues of globalization
"Heritage has this quality, both visible and opaque, to stand out, in its material and physical
expression, whether in speech or coding that organizes and makes it always seems to be
beyond us "(Brito, 2005: 44).
Both the culture and cultural identity of a community resulting from the crossing of its
heritage with its history and evolution over time belongs to a particular local identity,
meaning it meets us and is different from the global.
On the other hand, economic and cultural instability hinders the maintenance of identity
symbols, the constant mutation of the urban environment leads to a loss of identity by the
inhabitant.
According to Hall, one of the aspects of globalization is the issue of strengthening local
identities, or creating new identities, because the tradition that was characterized by stability
is now replaced by cultural tradition.
According to Stuart Hall,national cultures are currrently a union of the main sources of
cultural identity:
"National culture produces feelings about the nation, sentiments with which we can
identify, so building this identity" (Hall 1996:51).
The National Culture is composed not only of cultural institutions, but also symbols and
representations that produce the feeling of belonging towards the site, sentiments with which
we identify, thereby constructing identities. These feelings are contained in the stories that are
told about the place, memories that relate the present to the past from which images are
constructed (Hall, 1996). In addressing this issue the author argues that one of the
consequences of globalization is the strengthening or creation of new national and local
identities, ie globalization produces a new interaction between the global and the local. (Hall,
1998:77).
Local diversity plays an important role in this process of globalization because it discloses
the local culture on a global level, conveying to others their unique and distinctive
characteristics, leading to a collective recognition of the same. Thus it could be said that
society is an isolated identity among the other existing companies.

Currently we are rediscovering local as opposed to global, cultural events, traditions and
interpreting the equity as an asset that is externalized identity and which is the value of a
culture.
According to Peralta, heritage is closely linked to identity:
"(...), All asset building is a symbolic representation of a given version of the identity, an
identity" manufactured "by this that idealizes. (...) The cultural heritage and comprises of all
those elements that underlie the identity of a group and that differentiate it from others
"(PERALTA, 2000:219).
As already mentioned in this article, the UNESCO 2003 convention changed the concept of
heritage, which no longer refers only to the built heritage and extended the concept for
"Common Heritage of Mankind". In this convention UNESCO, takes on this new concept as
crucial to the survival of all peoples in their relationship with the world, where heritage
emerges as one of the most important concepts in building a global citizenship legacy.
In this document (approved in October 2003 by UNESCO), heritage is valued in an
immaterial dimension, from which local and / or cultural objects that target designation
acquire a global dimension, and the responsibility for its preservation becomes globally
shared:
"The monuments: architectural works, sculpture or monumental painting, elements or
structures of an archaeological nature, inscriptions, caves and groups of elements are of
outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science; Clusters: Groups
isolated or assembled buildings which, because of their architecture, homogeneity or their
place in the landscape, are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history,
art or science; Places of interest: works of man or the combined works of man and nature, and
areas including archaeological sites with outstanding universal value from the historical,
aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological points of view. "
Following the definition given by UNESCO, equity can be defined as a cultural asset,
tangible or intangible, that arouses feelings of worth and identity while culture expresses
itself. Cultural heritage is the link between the past and present at the same time it allows us
to know the tradition and culture.
According to Silva cultural heritage is represented, as is the identity, as an incomplete
process, constantly changing and therefore subject to continuous review, and involves a set of
experiences and feelings of one or more groups that seek to represent symbolically what
distinguishes them from the other, using for this the recognition of a common past (Smith,
2000)
For these reasons, property is an architectural representation that arouses the feeling of
identity and belonging and becomes a form of protection of local identities, with an intensity
that is proportional to the consequent reinvented mischaracterization of globalization.
At a time when we rediscover the value of heritage as an element of cultural identity, it
becomes crucial to its recovery, preservation and dissemination. However this recovery
should be achieved without losing the identity of the place and you can assign it urban
sustainability and globalization (Gospodini, 2004; Massey, Jess, 1995).

Thus, the preservation of material culture and non-local material leads to its global identity
while contributing to the formation of the feeling of belonging in the community. Also,
perhaps it is why we are witnessing today a set of initiatives to preserve heritage in its various
aspects, which seem to correspond to the local phenomenon of cultural globalization
reactions, and homogenization of the spectrum of effects attached thereto (Smith, 2000).
For all this, it must be considered that when it comes to heritage preservation, identity is
constantly changing and constructing, and it will soon be important to leave open the
possibility that the property itself is modified, and transformed to suit values.
The designer as a transmitter of community identity:
"Design is a means, not an end in itself" (Tibor Kalman)
The designer is an active agent in cultural construction because the choices they make and
the messages they convey are a component of a public cultural reality.
The Office of the designer is crucial in communication, the symbolic relationships and the
relationship of individuals to society.
According to Costa
" (...) Identities are constructed in society through processes of social interaction, becoming
a double series of mechanisms, symbolic and relational, which are decisive in the catalogue
and classificatory assignments from third parties, in the conjunction itself and this is about
yourself compared to others (...) "(Costa, 1999: 498).
The designer should have the ability to convey the feeling of belonging to citizens / clients
and highlight this added value communicating it to the outside.
Increasingly cities are concerned about being represented visually with the objective of
economic growth and attracting investment. By this and visually communicating through
texts, symbols and pictures, they convey their distinguishing characteristics. The local identity
is therefore a representation constructed from the attempt to unify numerous identities
present. (Hall, 1999)
According to Kevin Lynch, neighbourhoods are middle regions of a city where the
observer mentally enters and recognizes all that represents common characteristics. These
features are identified internally (i.e. to its inhabitants), the designer should use these
elements in the representation of local identity, and they are the benchmark that allows
external recognition. The problem with this kind of representation is that it needs to be
understood equally by all receivers. However the same reality can be described or interpreted
in different ways. Thus it is extremely important that the designer can find a consensus so that
the greatest number of people will also understand the message.
However the city is a space that is constantly changing, whether at an urban, sociological
or morphological level, it is a living element. The cities awaken their inhabitants behaviours
since they produce stimuli, these stimuli are often associated with the communication we
have with the space. One could say that the city is defined by the association of its
characteristic features: urban, cultural, religious, planning, combined with individuality of its

inhabitants. Whenever we move through the city we find ourselves with an undetermined
number of stimuli that awakens in us emotions, thoughts, sensations, reflecting the emotional
and intellectual character of an area. (Ribeiro, 2004)
Locals can be interpreted as extremely complex brands, because they are constantly
changing, and their variables are much harder to control than the variables of the corporate
domain. However the construction of identity is required to be alert to the fact that it does not
communicate the same way as a corporate brand, this is because the identity of the city is not
in the market.
In calculating the construction of identity representation, the designer cannot forget that
this should result in a "reassuring and representative picture of the collective and timeless
values, with which the community identifies and feel like his" (Fragoso, 1999). For this it is
important to consider their physical features (architecture, urbanism, transport, monuments,
among others), their geographic location as well as its cultural events, as these contribute
decisively to their identity and must be integrated into the core brand positioning of the site.
Case Study: The heritage of Alcntara and identity
As already mentioned, the identity of a place or site is connected to the historical
surroundings (heritage) to their intrinsic values (culture), in short, to the point that defines the
associated vision that users have of their identity.
Culture is the most relevant factor, it is one that allows us to understand how the site relates
to the citizens in the past, present and future, since culture does not copy or imitate
(Elizagarete, 2003). Thus, the historical and cultural heritage is, of all the elements, the one
that most identifies a city; it is through it that the place is different from another (2006).
To analyse the cultural heritage of a city or place, a multidisciplinary approach to the
subject is needed.
Located in West Lisbon, Alcntara portrays the diversity of Lisbon, with the presence of
three distinct architectural components: initially religious, then aristocratic, and after the
industrial revolution, it adopted a working class character.
The most obvious significance of this location is the origin of its name. In the middle of the
3rd century a stone bridge was built across the river, after the Muslim occupation and it began
to be called Al-Qantara, a name of Arab origin "Al-sung" [4] which means "the bridge".
Over the centuries, Alcntara has undergone several transformations to reach a time when
it has a privileged, opulent memory of events and experiences.
It was under the Filipino domain that Alcntara suffered its first urban development,
resulting from the emergence of convents and the Royal Palace. The Flemish convent, also
known as the Convent of Our Lady of Care, was the first convent in Alcntaras birthplace [5]
. Later, the Monastery of Mount Calvary was founded by D Violante de Noronha in 1617. In
this century the Convents of Deliverance and Scaramento were also founded in 1610 in 1612
[6] .

A significant number of nobles chose to come and live or have their summer homes in this
locality, hence the 17th century was a time rich in building of palatial property. The large
number of farms and mansions in this area should be noted, including Quinta dos Saldanhas
and Caldas in Junqueira, the palace and quinta dos Carvalhos (later called Fiza) and the
Cabrinha quinta which belonged to writer D. Francisco Manuel de Melo, among others.
The Calvario Convent was built in 1617 [7] , the Royal Palace of Alcantara [8] and the
Condes da Ponte Palace [9] both at the end of the century. The Royal Palace of Alcntara [10]
,is actually situated in the square in Calvario.
The royal palace was lost in the 1755 earthquake, but apart from this, few other buildings
were damaged, leading to an increase in population, since many of the people who had lost
their homes made this area their new home.
Alcntara, which previously had about 600 inhabitants, saw its population grow to 4769
inhabitants due to natural disaster.
With the increase in population and the remodelling of the parishes in 1770, the parish of
S. Pedro was created in Alcntara, having formerly been located in Alfama. The new parish
of Alcntara had 9830 inhabitants in 1801.
It was not only the number of inhabitants that grew, but the number of factories that
established themselves here: cotton, furnaces for the manufacture of lime (in Alvito), a
factory for the dyeing of royal silk, the Royal Gunpowder Factory, the Spinning Company,
Lisbonenses Fabrics, a wool factory and other industries, for example the production of soap
and candles among others
This industrial growth was a key factor in the increased population of this parish, to be
registered as not very common. Alcntara became a concentration of workers' villages.
This large manufacturing focus led to another great need: industrial schools.
The social climate and labour requirement at that time in contrast to the level of very
precarious living conditions, fulfilled the conditions that led to the formation of a
discontented and often revolutionary community. This was accentuated after the
implementation of the Republic, the most significant being the CUF workers strike on 27
March 1911 [11]. Even during the Salazar dictatorship this neighbourhood remained faithful
to itself, participating in the opposition movements.
The growth of this parish was determining the development of the public transport
network. Note that in 1864 there was a subsidiary of the Lisbonenses Carriages Company
there, in 1870 the 'American', pulled by mules which later emerged as the Companhia Carris
de Ferro de Lisboa in 1876. Ten years later (1886) there were the Jacinto carriages that
transported passengers, in 1887 the first train journey, and bewteen 1895 to 1897 the Estoril
railway line was built and in 1901 the tramway was inaugurated [12] .
However, the nineteenth century was defined by a declining population, Iin 1950 Alcntara
had 34,161 inhabitants. However, after this decade, the number of inhabitants decreased
dramatically. This is due to three key factors: a new delimitation of the parish in 1959, when
it was reduced significantly, the building of the 25 de April bridge, which forced removal of
residents and the closure of most factories.

Alcntara had no urban investment for many years, which led to an ageing population and
population loss, due largely to the site having been decimated, promoting a huge population
desertion to the centre of Lisbon. However "Alcntara will resist this mischaracterization,
because it has the precious heritage of an old neighbourhood and common worker which can
not be missed" (Consiglieri, 1993:62).
The Lisbon Municipal Council together with private companies felt the need to change the
situation and with various projects (some already completed, some not) predicts the
development of this locality by exploiting the real estate sector and transport network among
other things, taking advantage of its prime location.
In 2002, the CML recognized the extreme importance of existing patios and villas in
Alcntara, the municipality designated five courtyards and houses as objects of study for
future rehabilitation, among which are: Vital Villa Teixeira; Patio Fiuza; Cabrinha Patio,
Patio of the Flemish and Vila Teixeira. All these interventions have undergone a major
overhaul, except Vila Teixeira, which was demolished [13] .
The urban renewal objectives of the Plan of Urbanization claim that this parish "constitutes
a new centrality in the city, featuring new areas of equipment, services, commerce and
technology-based activities" [14] . However, this is one of the projects, despite already having
been approved, that is yet to materialize fully.
The LX Factory project is also innovative (a group of businesses in the creative sector
operating together in the same vicinity - art, design, dance, fashion, architecture, advertising,
music) open to the public since 2008 [15], which revitalized the old Lisbonenses Fabrics
Company, which before had been subject to reclassification stood almost abandoned.
"A split city that remained hidden for years is now returned to the city in the form of LX
Factory. A creative island occupied by business and industry professionals which has also
seen a diverse range of events in the fields of fashion, advertising, communication,
multimedia, art, architecture, and music, among others." [16]
No less important is the presence of Pestana Palace Hotel, located in a privileged area of
Alcntara. This 5 star hotel is situated in the old Valflor palace. The Pestana Palace is a
member of "The Leading Hotels of the World" [17] and since 1997 its gardens have been
classified as a "National Monument" [18]. Due to this hotel, numerous celebrities choose to
stay on this site when they come to Lisbon.
Note that there are innumerable properties of historical interest present in this locality.
There are 67 buildings catalogued as forming part of architectural heritage [20]. Alcntara
currently has approximately 13,911 inhabitants [21] .
We now have two distinct situations: Alcntara as Historical Heritage which must
urgently be promoted / preserved and Alcntara as a new residential area that seeks to be a
new centre of Lisbon, due to the space available for housing construction (excellent location)
as well as the old housing estate with potential for redevelopment.
Inserted inside the capital city of Lisbon, Alcntara proves to be a surprise by presenting
such an ancient and diverse heritage. Being able to understand Lisbon as a city, "it becomes a
whole set, a monument not only to understand architectural allegory, but it also signifies the

citys universal mind or of a particular community, it is like a collective monument" this

monument regarded as "the work of art that spans the centuries preserving and transmitting its
own ideological value" (Pereira, 1989).
Conclusion
The meaning of heritage and culture is closely linked with the definition of identity, which
brings us back to a sense of belonging to something and that places us in a group or location.
This is our identity represented symbolically by many tangible and intangible elements that
belong to our culture or heritage which were being built at the crossroads of demographic,
geographic, economic and social factors.
The architecture, art, history, landscape, climate, local culture is what defines its history,
where their identity is trying to be the ultimate expression of the imaginary and the first
element of communication. This differentiation is cultural as well as promoting the site,
making it more attractive for the development of new economic activities, encouraging self esteem in the inhabitants, as it leads to its recognition.
The loss of these references leads to a feeling of loss of identity, as though we know that
we belong to the site.
Heritage and culture play a key role in identifying the individual in a location, as citizens
we preserve and promote this, our legacy for future generations, thereby preserving the
identity of the site which summarizes itself in its history with a code that evokes our
personality.
Each city or location and design should communicate its gains through a strong visual
representation that reflects its identity, in a way that is easy to understand and interact with in
order that the public can create an emotional relationship. These visual representations should
contain the most representative features of the site, articulated with contemporary and
appealing graphics, while summarizing the history of the site providing a new insight for
citizens, tourists and investors. Visual construction of identity is crucial to recognizing the
personality of place because only in this way it may be designed and understood at a global
level.
The designer has responsibility in his work to try to decode and transmit culture and
cultural diversity, so that it is perceived and understood by the society in which it
operates.