Opening keynote lecture: Towards a science of sea space

Abstract

It is an honor for me to present this reflection at the start of the first international conference Heritages and Memories from the Sea. As João Rocha told you, I am an urban historian and my work focuses on the history of urban planning knowledge in late 20th-century Portugal and its then colonies. I aim at articulating a critical conception of space through my historical research. My objective is to promote future modes of urban planning knowledge that are not inimical to political democratization as a process. My perspective on the issue of intangible heritage is thus informed by this concern with a theory of space, as a way of foregrounding an understanding of the built environment not as a geometrical space, but instead as a plural assemblage of spatial representations, practices, and imaginations.