Making a white city: race, space, and heritage in the production of the historic centre of Cartagena in the twentieth century

Since the mid-twentieth century, the national and local governments worked to turn Cartagena into a heritage tourism destination. While propelled by economic motivations, this process had a cultural and racial foundation. This article analyses how hispanidad, as a cultural project and racial ideology, guided the production of the historic centre of Cartagena from the 1960s until 1984. It argues that the reintroduction of Spanish architecture following the city’s designation as a heritage site whitened Cartagena at the level of culture and aesthetics. This transformation impacted the lives of Black citizens living and working within the sphere of the historic centre, whose presence was deemed incompatible with the colonial landscape. Based on the historical analysis of urban plans, newspaper articles, tourist literature, novels, and restoration studies, this article discusses the intersection of race and space in the production of urban space and the effects of heritage-making policies on racialised individuals and communities in historic area.