From Cultural Memory to Creative Reinvention: Urban Art, Identity and Cultural Sustainability in Aveiro and Águeda

Murals, installations and festival-based interventions increasingly participate in the public narration of urban identity. This article examines the relationship between urban art, place identity and cultural sustainability through a comparative study of two medium-sized Portuguese cities, Aveiro and Águeda. It explores how different forms of artistic intervention in public space engage with local cultural references, collective memory and contemporary concerns, contributing to the construction and reinterpretation of place identity. To address its central research question—How do different modes of urban art contribute to the construction of place identity and cultural sustainability?—the study adopts a qualitative exploratory approach, combining field observation, photographic documentation, document analysis and reflexive interpretation. The theoretical framework draws on cultural memory studies, identity theory, artification and creative tourism. The comparative analysis identifies two dominant, yet overlapping, approaches to the relationship between urban art and place identity: one privileging continuity, recognition and heritage-based belonging, and another emphasising participation, novelty, future-oriented creativity and ecological responsibility. The article argues that urban art can function both as a visual archive of collective memory and as a catalyst for new forms of place attachment. It thus understands cultural sustainability as a balance between keeping inherited symbols meaningful and allowing new shared symbols to emerge.