Heritage District Research Articles

RESHAPING HABANA VIEJA: REVITALIZATION, HISTORIC PRESERVATION, AND RESTRUCTURING IN THE SOCIALIST CITY

Urban and regional planning in Cuba reversed course in the 1990s after decades of an antiurban policy focus. With the demise of the Soviet Union and attendant foreign aid in 1989, planners turned toward Havana's UNESCO World Heritage district (Habana Vieja, or Old Havana). Profound historic preservation, architectural renewal, and modernization of infrastructure characterized the development efforts of the old quarters during the 1990s. In the process, issues emerged that are germane to urban revitalization, historic preservation and restructuring. This essay examines how a major development corporation, Habaguanex, is transforming the old city and defining a geography of heritage in the socialist city. [Key words: Havana, revitalization, restructuring, tourism, historic preservation, Habaguanex, socialist planning, heritage.]