This paper is the result of research carried out as part of the IN2PAST project Preencher um Duplo Vazio: Uma leitura crítica mnemónica da Cidade Nova de Santo André (1971-2021) – Filling a Double Void: A critical mnemonic reading of the New City of Santo André (1971–2021) coordinated by Paulo Catrica, with contributions from a team of visual anthropologists, historians, architects and photographers. Our paper aims to stimulate a critical and mnemonic reading of the city of Vila Nova de Santo André, in Alentejo, Portugal by crossing history, the ideological matrix of architecture and urbanism with oral history, photography and anthropology. The comprehensive territory of the Sines industrial project, conceived by Marcelo Caetano's government in the years leading up to 25 April 1974 (the day of the military coup that ended fascism and inaugurated a revolutionary process) was largely implemented after the revolution, with its construction suffering constant setbacks and hesitations in economic and political guidelines. A unique case in Portugal as an urban project for a new city, fifty years after the start of the construction of Santo André, there is a lack of academic research promoting critical reading and discussion of this work. This led us to consider the potential of the unfinished as a decisive argument for considering Santo André as the subject of multidisciplinary academic research. Based on research combining photography, architecture, anthropology and an oral history project, we aim to demonstrate how the history of the industrial complex has become embedded in the social and cultural practices of the population. We also aim to highlight the transformation of the notion of heritage as a concept that operates at the level of public policy, collective imagination and individual perception.

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new town,photography,oral history,petroleum scapes,postcolonial

• Sociology - Social Sciences
• History and Archeology - Humanities
• Other Humanities - Humanities