"We Can’t Die Here by this Wall"

Public buildings between heritage and urban development in Miranda do Douro, Portugal

Abstract

This article examines how the mid-twentieth-century conflict between heritage and urban development shaped the current urban landscape of Miranda do Douro, Portugal. It traces the production of the historic centre through the histories of three essential public buildings: the fire station, municipal market, and primary school. The research draws upon primary sources from local and central archives, construction records, and meetings’ minutes, complemented by oral testimonies collected locally - including the voices from people of different generations, professions, socioeconomic backgrounds, and diverse connections to the city. By setting official accounts in dialogue with personal narratives, the study contrasts institutional understandings of heritage with lived experiences, revealing how heritage operates as a historical process embedded in everyday life and central to urban development. The findings show that central authorities, prioritizing a conservation strategy aimed at tourism, invoked heritage laws to paralyze the construction of public buildings within the walled town. The consequent relocation of these buildings created a new urban centrality outside the historic area, which became the dominant space of residence and collective life. The displacement of these collective facilities from the historic core has weakened the social fabric of the old center, now oriented towards tourism. Paradoxically, heritage conservation policies have accelerated the decline in the maintenance of historical buildings and produced a loss of vitality in this area.