Murals as Ephemeral Urban Heritage: Spatial Continuity Beyond Architecture

Abstract Although murals have become increasingly visible components of contemporary urban environments, they remain insufficiently theorized within the framework of urban heritage. Rather than approaching murals as artistic objects, this study examines them as non-architectural spatial practices that contribute to urban conservation and the formation of urban identity. The research aims to reveal how murals operate across different socio-spatial contexts and how they shape collective meaning in the city through their forms of spatial organization, production processes, and urban functions. Adopting a comparative qualitative methodology, the study analyzes three cities with strong mural cultures—Pachuca de Soto, Berlin, and São Paulo. These cities respectively represent locally embedded, historically linear, and metropolitan-scale distributed mural production logics. The analysis, conducted under the headings of spatial organization, production processes, urban function, and urban impact, demonstrates that murals operate as distributed systems of meaning-making beyond architectural permanence. The findings indicate that, depending on the socio-spatial context, murals function as narrative producers, memory carriers, or visibility enablers. Unlike architectural heritage, murals shape urban identity not through material continuity but through dynamic and contextual processes. Although not formally recognized within traditional heritage frameworks, mural practices contribute to the continuity and transformation of urban meaning. By repositioning murals as spatial practices that mediate the production of urban meaning rather than as purely artistic interventions this study opens a discussion on the role of non-architectural elements in the formation of contemporary urban heritage.