Research Line in Theory and History of Design
Advisor: Rachel Coutinho Marques
Dissertation: Landscape and Place: Impacts of Tourism in the Village of Ibitipoca/MG (1970-2020)
Defense date: 26/03/2023
Abstract:
The uses and meanings of a space establish the sense of place which is
composed of history, nature, collective memory and forms of appropriation of
space – all elements of the landscape. The notion of enjoying the landscape
stimulated the development of tourist activity. Such activity, without coordination,
impacts social, economic life and the urban and natural landscape of the localities.
Therefore, this work uses the sense of place to apprehend, in a tourist city, how
the transformations in the landscape, caused by the development of tourism,
change the perception of the sense of place in these spaces. The Vila de Conceição
do Ibitipoca chosen for the analysis is located in the East Zone of the State of
Minas Gerais, belonging to the municipality of Lima Duarte. This locality has a
bucolic landscape shaped by historic buildings and its natural landscape. Next to
the Vila there is the Ibitipoca State Park, which houses water courses that form
falls and rapids and has wide tourist visitation. The present research investigates
the impacts of tourist activity in the Village and in the park with a specific focus
on the landscape and the change in the sense of place. It is hoped that its results
may contribute to the improvement of public, environmental and urban policies,
and to the understanding of the fundamental role of the sense of place as an
intrinsic value for the preservation of the communities’ material and immaterial
heritage, preserving their natural landscapes, built and cultural.