The city of São Paulo was recognized as an important Brazilian territory to receive the first wave of industrial initiatives at the beginning of the 20^th century. Today, the focus on valuing and preserving industrial remnants brings back material and immaterial elements from these areas, opening new perspectives to discussions in this field. For this paper, the issue of reappropriation of the old industries is central, as an aspect that clearly exposes the current urban dynamics to which this territory is submitted. 

The neighbourhoods of Tamanduateí are located on Tamanduateí River’s margins, an important axis that cuts across São Paulo city centre. At the end of the 19^th century, this territory would accommodate São Paulo Railway, used mainly for coffee production transit between the city’s interior and the port of Santos. The occupation of this area would be consolidated only in the 20^th century, with the later occupation of its floodplain. In the 1930s, it received part of São Paulo capital’s manufacturing facility, an activity that began to decline as early as 1970. This process of productive emptying accelerated after the 1990s, and as a central region with large idle areas, it became the object of urban intervention plans and real estate speculation.

The 2015 urban intervention plan for the area provides an incentive for the installation of initiatives connected to the so-called creative economy. The proposal is aligned with a broader and global trend of using former industrial areas by incubators and technology accelerators. Although the urban intervention plan has been approved, its implementation has not been effective. The resulting economic crisis unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have accelerated the closure and the productive emptying of the area.The industrial heritage field provides a key to read and evaluate the testimonies of industrialization present in this area. In the last fifteen years, several buildings in this category have been protected and there has been a significant advance with the approval of new legislation, which allows for its interpretation as a landscape and an industrial ensemble (ZEPEC in Portuguese). However, legal protection has not reflected effectively in reuse. 

During the 2000s, temporary artistic initiatives took place in these industrial areas, such as the Arte-Cidade project. However, its temporary character did not bring significant changes in the process of resuming the old industrial structures. Despite the relationships between contemporary art and remaining industrial buildings, this programmatic aspect is not explored in the study area.

Moreover, real estate capital has been using the large areas of the available lots as a territory of investment, with has brought high density and verticalized buildings projects. This is a type of reappropriation that ignores any pre-existing memorial values.

In contrast, there are still interstitial lands, alleys, and remaining areas illegally occupied today by low-income population. This kind of use evades the city’s production control rules, but obeys the standards established by the urban fabric and the old industrial structures.

This multiplicity of potential reappropriations, whether permanent or temporary, marginal or official, in different scales, reinforces many contemporary debates that might be of relevance to the field of heritage.