In the 16th century, Portugal established in São Tomé and Principe the first plantation economy in the tropics based on slave labour and sugar monoculture. Later, from the mid-19th century to 1975, large plantations called Roças were developed to produce coffee and cocoa for highly profitable export production. In these plantations, thousands of indentured workers were employed. As a result, Roças embody the traces of merciless labour conditions (Umbelina, 2019) and a spatial organisation designed for white privilege and their hegemony. These settlements were multifunctional complex, including a hierarchical group of houses, large agro-industrial constructions, and supporting facilities. Distinct cultures and roles characterise each social group living in Roças across time. This vast heritage derives from European architectural and structural patterns adapted to the tropical environment. Nowadays, roças serve several purposes, from luxurious hotels to houses of large communities of squatters, and still, several roças are in ruin being consumed by nature. The analysis of this heritage is relevant since these settlements can be future-directed legacies, which can contribute to a global cultural overhaul and sustainable development. A comprehensive overview of this context allows us to understand past and present, considering tangible and intangible values. Critical and diachronic studies on the colonial and contemporary heritage are integrated by studying three different roças, in their original design and as they are today. Roças were initially designed for isolation (Dantas, 2021).Their original spatial organisation aims at segregating different types of inhabitants, and their position in the territory makes them isolated islands inside the big isle of São Tomé. By using space syntax analysis (Hillier and Hanson, 1984), we aim to analyse how the physical environment of roças influences human experience and behaviour. We study sensory access, behavioural affordance, and sociality through space syntax and in situ analysis (Montello, 2007). References: Dantas, E. (2021) A imagem enquanto leitura e escrita do mundo-O leveleve e a ferida colonial. ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa. Hillier, B. and Hanson, J. (1984) The Social Logic of Space. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Montello, D. R. (2007) ‘The contribution of Space Syntax to a comprehensive theory of environmental psychology, in 6th International Space Syntax Symposium, pp. 1–4. Umbelina, N. (2019) Travail forcé dans l’archipel de São Tomé et Principe: ler serciçaes. De l’abolition de l’esclavage à la généralisation des travailleurs sous contract (1853-1903). L’Harmattan.

This work was partially supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT) [ISTAR Projects: UIDB/04466/2020 and UIDP/04466/2020].