Trails to Treasures: A Tour of South Americas Cultural Heritage

This work presents a broad survey of the architectural history and cultural resources found throughout the South American continent on a country-by-country basis, with the intention of increasing awareness about common regional problems and innovative local solutions. General challenges faced in all of thirteen countries include the political weakness of local and city governments, the prevailing loss of a sense of community spirit or identity in urban environments, rural-urban migration, obsolete legislation that does not accommodate a broad enough view of heritage, and the decay of vital infrastructure in the face of rapidly increasing urbanization. It profiles a number of sites where some of these challenges have been overcome by reconciling preservation goals with social needs, and it also includes a selection of South American sites that had been featured on the World Monuments Fund Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites up through the year 2000.