Paper short abstract:

What are the criteria to consider an urban area an historical centre? Are global criteria (like UNESCO recommendations) appropriate for local contexts? What is the role of the historical centres located in suburban metropolitan areas for in municipal heritage politics?

Paper long abstract:

After World War II, historical centres have gained importance in heritage politics. Recommendations and legislation concerning these urban areas have increased over the last decades, both at an international and at a national level.

The first areas defined as historic centres were the places where the main cities were born and where the major concentrations of architectural monuments took place. Nevertheless, in the last few years, the suburban communities have struggled to identify and to promote their urban roots and the number of local historical centres has grown.

This paper will discuss the processes of identifying, classifying and managing these historic centres, in a metropolitan context. It will focus on the impact of these historic centres on local and metropolitan heritage policies. The case study is the Setubal peninsula, located at the Lisbon Metropolitan Area.