“We pay particular attention to urban landscapes as living and dynamic heritage, seeking to establish relationships and provide knowledge in critical approaches to nostalgic or neo-colonial temptations, but also to conventional discourses and agendas of international organizations” – Walter Rossa.

Walter Rossa

Tell us about yourself and your work
I am a Portuguese architect and professor at the University of Coimbra. I started my career as an urban planner and a researcher in the history of urbanism, focusing on Portugal. Early on, however, I embraced the opportunity to research the history of urbanism of the Indian cities that were part of the former Portuguese empire, which lasted there till 1961 and in Africa till 1974.
History revealed to be the privileged tool to know why those cities are like they are today. From there to, urbanism as a cultural heritage was a leap. A leap that was accompanied by the enlargement to other geographies. When I started working on cities with Portuguese influence in Africa, my focus was no longer on history but on cooperation for development, where capacity building has played a central role, and heritage is used as a soft-power appliance.
Factors specific to my university generated the opportunity to create a PhD programme focused on the cultural heritages (yes, in plural) of the various communities which, in one way or another, with greater or lesser intensity, from colonialism to emigration, were marked by Portuguese presence in the past and/ or even today. As far as I am concerned, we pay particular attention to urban landscapes as living and dynamic heritage, seeking to establish relationships and provide knowledge in critical approaches to nostalgic or neo-colonial temptations, but also to conventional discourses and agendas of international organizations. The PhD in Heritages of Portuguese Influence soon developed into a more comprehensive project, following a network of universities and NGOs from India to Brazil, eventually leading to the creation of the UNESCO Chair with the same name.
I am engaged in training projects at Cabo Verde, Goa, and Mozambique, and I have promoted local-based strategic planning workshops and urban intervention actions in Cabo Verde and Mozambique. Now I am starting to work on another in a former cocoa-coffee farm (roça) with 5.000 inhabitants in St. Tomé and Prince.
This track record led me to assume that the most relevant heritage is the people and that it is for them that I should envisage the uses of heritage. I am also increasingly convinced that I am in teaching to learn and that I research to better understand and contribute to improving what surrounds me.

What does being an ACHS member mean to you?
Like ACHS, the Patrimonios de Influência Portuguesa project emerged in 2010. When in 2012, I learned of the existence of ACHS through the Manifesto and the holding of its first conference in Gothenburg, I found a twin theoretical and ethical broader reference, which not only provided me with comfortable support but also allowed me to go much further in what was our initial thoughts and objectives.
Today, the wealth of knowledge and contacts that ACHS, directly and indirectly, provides me with are fundamental to continuing to follow my trail. And some new friendships within ACHS make it very enjoyable.

_{Fonte: https://www.criticalheritagestudies.org/member-spotlight-feb-23}