Abstract

Part of the Local and Urban Governance book series (LUG)

Abstract

The study of the urban heritage of Ribeira Grande de Santiago reveals a city structured in a functional or organic way since its beginnings in the second half of the fifteenth century. This allowed the city to adapt to the characteristics of the nature of the place and, fundamentally, to correspond to the necessities of the economic, religious, and military life. In Ribeira Grande de Santiago, it is still possible to observe a typological overlap in the urban organization that results from its origins dating back to 1462 and referring to the moment of transition from a medieval urbanism to a modern urbanism. Thus, in its structure, older urban areas can be distinguished from the more recent ones, where an urban heritage and an expressive architectural heritage of forms of life consolidated over time. A particularity of the historical heritage built in this city is the evident mark of a very consistent style in the past, translated into a constructive aesthetic where the application of formal rules denotes sobriety, constructive regularity, and geometric volumes, all of them characteristics common in most buildings.

Keywords
Ribeira Grande,
Organic model of city,
Urban heritage,
Historical monuments,

Keywords