165 Culture-Nature vs Commerce Disjunctives: Touristic Maya Train Trans-istmus Graciela Aurora Mota Botello Mega Project and its Cultural Heritage and Urban Impact in Mexico. Culture-Nature vs Commerce Disjunctives: Touristic Mayan Train Trans-Isthmus Mega Project and its Cultural Heritage and Urban Impact in Mexico. Graciela Aurora Mota Botello Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México ICICH-ICOMOS member
[email protected] ABSTRACT This paper performs an holistic assessment referred to the Mayan Train project in Yucatan, Mexico. This evaluation includes 1) the impact of the construction and operation of the railroad way 2) the challenges between economic development and traditional living indigenous life 3) the demarcation of social participation in managing forecast 4) the safeguard perspective for the Mayan Intangible Heritage 5) An alternative design for better practices as a whole: train, communities and urban-tourist development. Without any rigorous popular methodologies for consultation the construction of the railroad way will increase the unfortunate collision between “culture-nature” vs “economy- innovation-technology transfer”. Looking for equity and diversity progress the edge effects caused by the Train, especially in critical areas such as the wildlife passages will change the daily sustainable life styles focused on their traditional social experiences supported on the spiritual meaning sense of housing the earth and sky as a whole, collective memory, and local dreams. Impacts of modernity will clearly change the sense of Mayan associative landscape. Urban tourist development will also have a direct impact on the occupation of natural spaces and will exacerbate the barrier and edge effects caused by the railroad way that will have an indirect effect on the habitat and original sense of the place accompanied by the new daily life urban style practices such as vehicular traffic and demand of a new infrastructure.