Abstract
Adaptive reuse has increasingly emerged as a cornerstone of sustainable urban design and conservation, offering a viable trajectory to reconcile the preservation of collective memory with contemporary socioeconomic demands. In Latin American megacities, where historic central districts frequently suffer from structural degradation, disinvestment, and territorial stigmatization, adaptive reuse is routinely operationalized as a catalyst for urban renaissance. This study investigates how adaptive reuse strategies mediate the dialectic between cultural identity preservation and economic revitalization. Employing a qualitative Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework integrated with spatial morphological review, this article critically scrutinizes master plans, regulatory decrees, developer marketing materials, and civic counter-narratives across three emblematic case studies: the Centro Histórico of Mexico City, the San Telmo and Barracas districts in Buenos Aires, and the central pericentral sectors of São Paulo (Sé and República). The findings reveal that while municipal rhetoric consistently foregrounds inclusive heritage valorization and creative-economy incubation, institutionalized reuse discourses systematically privilege tourist-oriented commercialization and capital reinvestment, frequently catalyzing socio-spatial displacement and the aesthetic pacification of heritage landscapes. The study concludes by proposing an integrated socio-spatial planning model that recalibrates architectural design governance toward participatory heritage co-production, anti-displacement zoning mechanisms, and vernacular preservation, thereby ensuring that adaptive reuse serves as an instrument of authentic cultural continuity and spatial equity rather than exclusionary gentrification.
