Heritage, contemporary city, city of Pelotas: every action is an intervention

Even though it is quite usual to consider the object of preservation as a monument, it has already been acknowledged that on the set of the “tissue architecture” cultural values are formed. Added to this, the present idea of “continuation” concerning certain characteristics of the existing city, opposing a previous modernist view of “opposition”, leads to strategies of patrimonial increase extended throughout the city. The new urban legislation of Pelotas establishes two concepts about patrimonial preservation: 1. some parts of the city should be preserved as an exception; 2. “the rest of the city” should serve as a model in order to maintain a given urban configuration or a certain character of the “environments”. These two looks, with interfaces in several points, incorporate different aspects of the general concept of preservation: "heritage as an exception" and "heritage as a model”. A thought on the solution of these themes in the city of Pelotas, is what the present paper aims to introduce