How can cultural heritage save us from climate change

The struggle over Jardim Alfomares in the city of Sao Paulo

Abstract

This article investigates how cultural heritage, particularly natural heritage in urban contexts, can contribute to addressing climate change, shifting the debate from vulnerability toward action in the present. The analysis takes as its empirical axis the struggle over Jardim Alfomares, a remnant of Atlantic Forest located in Santo Amaro, in the southern region of the city of São Paulo, whose trajectory has been shaped by residents’ mobilization, land conflicts, and legal and administrative disputes. This trajectory shows how urban and environmental regulations, rather than containing real estate pressure, were in part used to legitimize the clearing of vegetation, and how the activation of cultural heritage, through the opening of the heritage listing process, reconfigured the conflict and interrupted, albeit provisionally, the course degradation. In dialogue with climate plans and reports, the article discusses the contribution of Jardim Alfomares to climate mitigation in urban areas. The case is then situated within the critical framework of the Anthropocene, proposing an understanding of heritage as a processual practice shaped by struggles and oriented also toward the construction of futures. Finally, it argues that cultural heritage can operate as an arena for contesting more equitable urban models, mobilizing preservation not only to protect the past, but also to claim the present and the future.