Understanding Bunker Architecture Heritage as a Climate Action Tool: Plan Barron in Lisbon as a “Milieu” and as “Common Good” When Dealing with the Rise of the Water Levels

Maria Rita Pais,Katiuska Hoffmann,Sandra Campos

doi:10.3390/heritage4040254

Abstract

Abandoned on the coast as skeletons, bunkers are the last theatrical gesture in the history of Western military architecture (Virilio, 1975). Technically obsolete, this military territory has fallen into extinction and is now generally forgotten. We present the Plan Barron of Defense of Lisbon and Setubal case study, a mid-twentieth-century set of bunkers, recently declassified, as a case study to discuss the future of this heritage facing the climate crisis. Can oblivious historical war heritage be an opportunity to fight climate emergencies? We present four theoretical concepts to fundament this environmental positioning: (i) Heritage Management and Climate Governance, (ii) Techno-aesthetic (Simondon, 1992): panopticon territorial cluster; (iii) Military: camouflage as design, and (iv) Civil: inheritance as future potential. The results allow us to look at military architecture in the form of a bunker, as a set of territorial, architectonic, cultural, and social interests. We demonstrate that the counterpoint of its invisibility is a singular naturalized “milieu”, a place where the memory of war can be transformed as a buffer zone that combines characteristics of climate and coastal resilience with cultural and social interest as a “common good”.

Highlights

By 2019, we have started the first academic study of the Plan Barron of Defense of Lisbon and Setubal, a mid-twentieth-century Portuguese military set managed by the Coastal Artillery Regiment (RAC), a unit with the mission of guaranteeing the coastal defense of the ports of Lisbon and Setubal
We propose a reading of a pilot case study to identify the theoretical framework inherent in the international and national levels in order to put into practice the classification of the Plan Barron following the “win-win” UNESCO suggestion [1] for action regarding heritage in our current climate action scenario
We take the opportunity to understand Plan Barron heritage strength, as a large and disseminated territorial set, as a very specific heritage comprehension, that deals with very particular questions regarding his strait relation with the sea, territory, landscape, urban fabric, natural environment, and civil society. Facing this hypothesis of the Plan Barron case study as an opportunity to better understand and explore international heritage strategies, when dealing with climate emergencies and based on the singularity of the presented war object, we have placed four different readings to base our research

Summary

Introduction

By 2019, we have started the first academic study of the Plan Barron of Defense of Lisbon and Setubal, a mid-twentieth-century Portuguese military set managed by the Coastal Artillery Regiment (RAC), a unit with the mission of guaranteeing the coastal defense of the ports of Lisbon and Setubal. Due to the extended secrecy and the lack of knowledge inscribed in the History of Portugal, Plan Barron is at risk of disappearing: one is sealed and makes part of the foundations’ structure of Cascais Hospital, four are in ruins, one has a small temporary museum and two were donated to public entities (Institute for Nature Conservation and Monument to Overseas Combatants). There is no knowledge of its existence in Portuguese history or plan for the future, so our objective with our general research is to inscribe this set in academic and scientific fields and discuss some of its possible historical, theoretical, conservational, and strategic interests so that its future is a sustainable one. Facing some local passivity regarding the future of these batteries, we propose to clarify the idea if we can use forgotten heritage as a climate action strategy and, if we can use an inherited disseminated post-military architecture in coastal territories as a climate action strategy to protect waterfronts, facing the expected rise of the water levels and the instability of the coastline

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Conclusion