Macau

Craig Duncan

University of East Asia, Macau

More than 97% of Macau’s 450 000 The model for Macau is essentially that
population are Chinese and it is essen- of the pre-industrial city.2 In spite of
tially a Chinese city. It reached the height rapidly encroaching modernity, the detail
of its importance as a centre of Portu- is still that of narrow, unpatterned streets
guese trade in 1600 and still reflects the around the central senate building, the
influence of Portuguese settlement. To- Lea1 Senado; and within easy walking
day Macau suffers from serious prob- distance are administrative offices, chur-
lems of slum housing and traffic conges- ches, markets and a mass of tightly
tion and must resolve the conflict be- packed residential buildings with shops,
tween historic preservation and develop- workshops and home factories, facing the
ment. streets. This predominance of the centre
over the periphery is a feature of the
The author is indebted pre-industrial city. Another is, or rather
to Dr T. L. Tomaz, The territory of Macau lies on the west was, the defensive wall which straddled
University of East Asia
side of the Pearl River estuary on a the central peninsula and, throughout
and Former Director of
Education, and Mr. J. peninsula of the Chinese district of Fo most of its history, restricted growth to
Rosario, P and T Shan in the Guandong province. It in- the lower half, acting as a ‘critical struc-
Gabinete de
cludes the hilly islands of Taipa and turing element’ until well into the 19th
Arquitectura e
Planemento, Macau, for Coloane which are linked to the peninsu- century.
reading the text and la by a bridge and a causeway, 2.6 km There have also been distinct topo-
offering valuable
and 2.3 km long, respectively. Peninsular graphical influences on the city’s growth.
suggestions.
‘TheHongKongand Macau is the site of the city proper and is The built area occupies lowland and spurs
Shanghai Banking linked to the Chinese mainland by a which rise to steeper ridges. Hills be-
Corporation, Business
narrow isthmus across which lies the tween 60 and 90 metres high at the
Profile Series, 1 ed,
Macau, 1983. border, and the border gate. Macau lies southwestern and northeastern extremi-
‘G. Sjoberg, The Pre- 64 km west of Hong Kong and has a total ties of the peninsula are generally
indusfrial Cify, Past and
area of 16.04 km2. Taipa and Coloane wooded and, due to their prominence, are
Present, Free Press,
New York, 1960, pp 95 occupy 3.4 and 7.2 km2, respectively’ dominated by churches, forts or, on the
97. (Figure 1). Guia Hill, a lighthouse. Mong Ha and the

2 0264-2751/86/010002-10$03.00 0 1986 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd

 /A&a

Macau Peninnria
and city

Macau City

taipa Bridge
Recent
reclamation

People’s
Republic of
China (PRC)

Coloane I
Causeway
Coloane _
I

T PRC
C0l0afle
Village

km

Figure t . The Territory of Macw.

high point of Green Island, Zlha Verde, European Macnu. In vis’iting Macau fo1
are other prominent landmarks in the the first time, one might be excused i:
northern part of the peninsuta, the for- certain sense of d&jjciVU as ane looks at
mer capped by a 18th century fort built to buirdings and vistas reminiscent of
defend the Border Gate. Mediterranean coastal cities. Some, such

CITES February 1986 3

 as the Lea1 Senado, the Holy House of of the Patane Basin) and Do Consefheiro
Mercy, Santa Casa da Misericbrdia, and Ferreira de Almeida which runs parallel
the Governor’s Palace facing the coastal to the western slope of the Guia ridge.
curve of the Praia Grande, show the Urban expansion led to the reorganiza-
influences of Lisbon, the Portuguese tion of the old Stio Lkzaro suburb, and
capital, while others bear the form if not city blocks were laid out around the
the detail of Mediterranean architecture, central square on to which the Senate
building faced. In 1915 a major planning
‘Macau spread along the decision resulted in the opening up of the
waterfront as a dense, central city with the construction of the
Avenida Almeida Ribeiro; San Ma Lo to
irregular network of streets’
the Chinese. Expansion beyond the line
displaying in window-shape and orna- of the city wall continued and extended
mentation, eave and roofing the influ- on to new reclaimed land which had
ences of the long association with China. joined Green Island to the peninsula and
To say that Macau has characteristics had all but removed the former bays of
of a diminuitive Lisbon may be an exag- Manduco and Patane.
geration but it is not without substance. Contemporary Macau has many of the
The original Lisbon was built around the problems that appear to plague Lisbon.
castle crowning S&o Jorge Hill; Macau Traffic flow in the narrow, congested
spread south from the substantial fort on streets makes walking hazardous. Lis-
Monte hill with the Church of St Paul, bon’s Terreiro do PaGo, we are told,
Stio Pa&o, on a terrace immediately ‘could be a restful gracious entry to the
below its walls. As ocean commerce city’, but instead ‘its centre is cluttered
developed on the Tagus, Lisbon spread with parked cars around which there is a
‘A. M. Williams, to the waterfront area and established the constant traffic jam’.3 Macau’s streets
‘Lisbon’, cities, VOI 1, historic city of the Baixa; Macau spread and pavements in the inner business and
No1,1983,pplO-16.
Readers may wish to
along the waterfront as a dense, irregular residential areas are packed with parked
note that some of this network of streets, warehouses, commer- motor vehicles. In the absence of walking
description is no longer cial offices, homes and small industries
correct as vehicular
traffic is now banned from the original settlements of Praia do ‘Macau’s slum housing areas
from this public square. Manduco, to Patane around the western are both overcrowded and
extension of the city wall (Figure 2).
lacking in ammenities’
Lisbon streets focus on largos or little
squares, some barely more than widen- precincts, many of the squares and nar-
ings of the streets. Many such squares are row streets with granite-cobbled pave-
features of the street pattern of Macau. ments have lost their former charm and
The Largo do Senado on to which the attraction.
main public buildings face, is a central Macau’s slum housing areas are both
focus, providing space for viewing the overcrowded and lacking in ammenities.
traditional lines of the Lea1 Senado. The bairros of the northern periphery
Other squares have fared less well. Some were an early attempt by the Govern-
have been reduced to parking lots, while ment of Macau to house the indigenous
the once beautiful Largo do Lilau no poor and, more recently, the great influx
longer has its fountain, having made way of migrants and the ‘illegals’. Makeshift
for progress in the form of hawkers’ stalls ‘squatter’ housing on vacant or reclaimed
and a garbage collection area. Like Lis- land, which was the home of ‘illegals’ and
bon, avenues link the more regular grid a sensitive issue for the government in the
pattern of the newer city with the old 1970s is fast disappearing. Residential
centre. Macau, once freed of the restrain- high-rise, as individual blocks, rather
ing city wall, expanded along the avenues than the massive resettlement estates of
of Almirante Lacerda (around the curve the suburbs of Lisbon, is a characteristic

CITIES February 1986

Figure 2. Inner city viewed from the Inner Harbour showing old, tightly packed buildings in the
middle distance. Monte Fort and the Guia Lighthouse surmount the wooded skyline.
(Photograph: Gabinete de Comunica@o Social do Govern0 de Macau.)

of the upper peninsula towards the Bor- future as Macanese, may make use of
der Gate. Portuguese passport status and leave.
A 400-year history of European settle- Three ethnic cultural interests are
ment has implanted an image of Macau therefore reflected in the image of the
that is essentially European. Yet, of its city. Expressed in these terms, the Portu-
present population of some 450 000, all guese , and Europeans in general, see
but two or three per cent are Chinese. value in the old city as a reflection of the
Macau is a Chinese city and is designated historical heritage, and perhaps also as a
as occupying ‘Chinese territory official’ly contrast to downtown Hong Kong where
administered by Portugal’. Chinese tem- the ‘old city’ has been almost obliterated
ples, traditional teahouses, markets and in the central business area. The
schools are numerous, if less prominent Macanese, in appearance generally more
architectural features of the city. Chinese than European, but in cultural
Poised between the few Europeans and orientation a gradation from Portuguese
the large Chinese majority, are those of through various levels of identification to
mixed blood, known today as the essentially Chinese, reflect an ambiva-
Macanese. They number upwards of lence in attitude, but if forced to a
10 000. Typically, those from older fami- decision, would probably choose to re-
lies are educated at Portuguese language main Chinese. Among the Chinese, many
schools and associate with the Portu- of them recent migrants from neighbour-
guese, and form an influential group in ing Guangdong Province, a sense of
business and in politics. While the major- heritage is largely absent or, if present,
ity of Macanese are a product of more seldom articulated. Faced with a limited
recent intermarriage at lower economic awareness of the issues, many see social
levels and have become increasingly iden- issues concerning higher wages and work
tified with the Chinese, some of the more conditions, and better housing, as more
privileged, confronted with an uncertain pressing than a sense of shared heritage.

CITIES February 1986 5

 Meanwhile, Macau is being trans- China and, after a landing was made near
formed from the ‘tarnished old place’ of Nagasaki in 1543, to Japan. Lacking the
“M. Collis, Foreign Mud the 1830~,~ as it has remained until the power to subdue the hinterlands, the
Being an Account of the most recent burst of urban expansion, Portuguese set about the task of consoli-
Opium Imbroglio at
Canton in the 1830’s into a place where development has been dating the small enclaves. When the
and the Anglo-Chinese largely skyward and underpinned by con- Chinese were forbidden to trade with
War that Followed, siderable growth in the domestic eco- Japan, the Portuguese, opportunely,
Graham Brash,
Singapore, 1946, p 16. nomy. Urban land uses are changing already had Macau as a base, and their
rapidly, albeit with minimal coordination trade flourished. Captains-general fitted
and planning and maximum pressure out their giant caravels with merchandise
from the developers in the private sector. from Europe, and later extended their
Modern architectural forms have re- trade, carrying silks from China and
placed those which were old and tradi- returning from Japan laden with silver
tionally Chinese. Transport, communica- and other goods for the Chinese markets.
tions and services infrastructures are Their role as profitable arbitrator was at
being upgraded to meet new demands first tolerated by the Chinese. Then, in
and major reclamation projects of shal-
low and silted harbour areas are being ‘Macau was to become
extended to embrace much more of the fabulously wealthy’
present coastline of the peninsula and
islands. 1557, the Emperor gave tacit approval of
A heritage remains, although with a the Portuguese occupation and estab-
lack of historical perspective in present lished her monopolistic position in trade
planning and design it may rapidly dis- with China. It was not until much later, in
appear. Without that perspective of its 1887, that a considerably weakened Mid-
urban history and some appreciation of dle Kingdom was to cede formally the
the personalities that shaped it, little can territory to Portugal.
really be understood of Macau’s contem- Commercial expansion took hold and
‘For a discussion of porary patterns.’ The urban historical Macau was to become fabulously weal-
urban historical geographer, involved as a planner, is well thy. By 1563, 900 Portuguese and several
geography, see l-l.
Carter, An Introduction
placed to conserve historical landscapes thousand foreigners, ‘as well as Chinese’,
to Urban Historical in rapidly evolving urban contexts.‘j occupied the settlement. Commercial
Geography, Edward houses, churches, large residences and
Arnold, London, 1983.
Historical influences and contemporary some public buildings were built and,
6T. R. Slater,
‘Preservation, patterns. To the Chinese at the beginning during a period of consolidation, fort
conservation and of the 16th century, 0-Mun or, in a fuller construction on those high points not
planning in historic
towns’, The
form, Amacao - ‘Gate (or port) of the dominated by churches added further to
Geographical Journal, Bay of the Goddess Ama’ - was a small the city’s form. Macau’s importance was
Voll50, No 3, pp 322- promontory within the jurisdiction of the recognized when, in 1565, Portugal bes-
334.
Heungshan Magistracy. A scattered towed on the thriving settlement the
group of Fukienese fishermen occupied crown status of a city. In 1587, Goa, the
the lower regions, while the extended headquarters of the Portuguese in India,
families of Tsum and Ho cultivated the recognized Macau as having an import-
shale soils of the Mong Ha depression ance second only to its own, and granted
nearer the isthmus. Temples to the God- the 29-year old settlement the grant title
dess of the Sea, Ma-Kok-Miu and to the of ‘City of the Name of God in China,
Goddess of Mercy, Kurt-lam had been Macau’, following the establishment of a
founded in the 13th century at sites where senate in 1585.
temples are still located today. Coates has described what Macau must
To the Portuguese, by way of contrast, have been like at its zenith in 1600:
Macau was at the remoter end of a series
of bases which stretched from Africa to Trees had grown up on the two southern hills

CITIES February 1986

of Barra and Penha; high-walled gardens and constructed defensive walls linking 7A. Coates, A Macao
surrounded a few large houses and churches Narrative, Heinemann,
the forts. Between 1622 and 1629 sub-
London, 1978, p 31.
on the Ridge, the gentle slope separating the stantial walls were built across the penin- ‘For this and
two harbours. Around the bay of the outer sula from Monte Fort to both coastlines subsequent
harbour, the Praia Grande was lined with information, I am
of the peninsula. The expense was stag-
well-built stone houses. Approached from the indebted to Shann
gering but the revenue was available. ‘In Davies, ‘Makers of
open sea, this long crescent of buildings with
1625 alone the governor’s profit from the Macau’, which
squat towers and low domes of classical appeared in Macau
churches rising behind them, so gave the Japan Voyage was 26 000 silver dollars, Travel Talk, Services
appearance of a Mediterranean city that it was which he spent on the forts’.* This great de Tourismo, Macau,
difficult to imagine oneself in China.7 wealth was used to help finance his plans various issues.
for the city, including the establishment
Apart from merchants, such wealth in-
of a foundry to cast cannon.
evitably attracted churchmen, and indus- In 1626, the residents of Macau were
trial and military figures, all of whom
recorded as 437 Portuguese and Eura-
helped to shape the city. Sites were
sians, 403 native Christians, 10 000 ‘or so’
pre-empted to land uses which remain the
Chinese, plus several thousand slaves. By
same today, setting a pattern for the form
that date, the period of fantastic wealth
of the city.
was drawing to a close and a series of
Fired with the zeal of their new order,
events combined to reduce Macau’s afflu-
the first Jesuits arrived in Macau in 1555.
ence. First, other maritime countries
In 1567 Dom Melchior Carneiro, Jesuit
sought a share of the Japanese trade.
and Bishop, was sent from Goa. He
Although Macau had secured itself from
immediately set about organizing the
Dutch military challenge in 1621 and
Santa Casa da Miseric6rdia, building a
again in 1627, Malacca on the Malay
hospital, an orphanage and a sanctuary
peninsula was lost to them in 1639. This
for lepers, together with a chapel ded-
was a major disaster for Portuguese trade
icated to Saint Lazarus. The Church grew
with the east, as a vital link on the long
both in influence and affluence, leading
voyage from Europe was broken. A
Pope Gregory VIII to establish the Epis-
second factor contributing to the partial
copal See of Macau in 1575, with respon-
demise of the city was the factional strife
sibilities which extended over most of
among the Roman Catholic orders, and
eastern Asia. Dominicans, Augustinians
between these and the State, squabbling
and Franciscans descended on the city,
which was to lead some time later to the
building churches and monasteries, and
expulsion of the Jesuits in 1759. As a
further buildings for work with the poor.
consequence, Portugal and indeed all of
Commanding a central position was the
Europe lost a centre for the promotion of
Church of Saint Paul, and a seminary,
European learning in the East; local
which was later to become the first
merchants lost the help of the Jesuits, not
university and centre for learning and
only as scholars but also as astute
priestly training in the East.
businessmen; and Rome, through its
From the time of his arrival in 1623, the
involvement in the Rites Controversy in
first Governor, Francisco Mascarenhas,
which Jesuits had stood firm on certain
was determined to turn Macau into a
Confucian practices, lost influence in
great fortress. He completed and streng-
China. A third factor related to trade
thened existing forts, incorporating re-
with the Philippines which had opened
up, fortuitously, with the accession of
‘a series of events combined Philip II of Spain to the Portuguese
to reduce Macau’s affluence’ throne in 1580.when the direct line of
Portuguese monarchs died out. Although
cent European innovations in defensive Macau had retained its loyalty to the old
design, built a new fort around the Portugal, it afforded an opportunity for
hermitage on the high point of Guia Hill, extending trade with Manila and the rest

CITIES February 1986

 of the Spanish colony. Much of this trade Lisbon and neglected by the government
was lost in 1640 when the throne reverted at Goa.
to Portugal. By the 1750s we see an attractive city
While these and other factors were with a seamy underworld of slaves and
certainly influential in Macau’s decline, prostitutes; with rows of spacious houses
none had the significance of the fourth built around courtyards and topped with
and final factor - the expulsion of all Chinese roofs. On every hill is a church
Europeans from Japan in 1639, after or fortress, and ships of various kinds ride
Portuguese ships of the Great Voyage at anchor in the Inner Harbour.
had been turned back. Commercial man- In 1745, the population of Macau was
ipulation by the Portuguese and increas- half that in the 1640s and was quaintly
ing indebtedness to Japanese investors stated as consisting of 5212 Christians and
and bankers had added to a mounting 8000 Chinese, with 3301 of these slaves,
opposition to European influences. prostitutes and destitute orphans. Later,
more reliable figures record a population
The aftermath. It would be wrong to say in the early 1900s as about 75 000, a
that Macau ceased to expand after this figure which was to double by the 193Os,
key period. Trade continued, if only and to explode with the influx of Chinese
spasmodically, with Siam, the Philippines from 1937 onwards, following the fall of
and the Indies. China remained a signifi- Shanghai to the Japanese. An estimate of
cant source of profit, but influence and 600 000 has been made for the population
profit fluctuated with the attitudes of the during the second world war.
Chinese, and revenues from the Middle
Kingdom. Dutch, British, French, Scan- Contemporary considerations. Today
dinavian and other European and Amer- Macau is a thriving city - a mixture of old
ican adventurers took the opportunity to and new (Figure 3). The broad image is
consolidate their positions. A brief European, reflecting both charm and past
period of prosperity ensued when Euro- neglect, but the rapid development has
pean companies set up their trading taken place this century, with accelerat-
facilities in Canton in 1717. The Chinese ing expansion over the last decade. A
reinforced an old regulation which had land-use map of the city published in 1973
fallen into abeyance and required all still shows agricultural land on the exten-
direct trade to go through the Portu- sive northern and eastern areas of re-
guese. The order lasted only six years but claimed land. In 1983, a second map
in that time Macau again prospered and depicts a considerably reduced area of
‘T. N. Chiu, Land Use in one year ships registered in Macau agricultural land.’ On both the peninsula
Map of Macau, Ling increased from six to 23. and the adjoining island of Taipa, agri-
Kee Publishing
Company, Hong Kong, On another occasion, China forbade all cultural land has been replaced by urban
1975. Ft. L. Edmonds, junks from commercial dealings with uses. High-rise factories and a secondary
coordinator, Mapa de Southeast Asia and, for a time, Macau commercial district are now a feature of
Macau, Utilizacao de
Terrenos, University of succeeded in capturing the sandalwood the upper peninsula. The tight rectilinear
Hong Kong, Hong and spices trade between the Indies and pattern of streets is linked to the lower
Kong, 1983. China. In the immediate aftermath of peninsula and the ports on either coast by
major avenues, and temples, such as that
‘today Macau is a thriving of Lin Fang Miu, are still to be found. In
city’ 1889 the Green Island Cement Company
opened a factory on Ilha Verde. A
these more prosperous times, old build- modern cement works, owned by
ings were restored to their former gran- Macanese and Chinese interests and lo-
deur and new buildings were constructed. cated on reclaimed land on the farthest
In general, however, Macau languished, island of Coloane, was completed in
and was all but forgotten by the Court of 1984.

CITIES February 1986

Figure 3. Today Macau is a thriving city- a mixture of old and new. (Photograph: Gabinete de
Comunicaq3.o Social do Govern0 de Macau.)
In the upper city, the district of Areia creased by 29% during 1983, while im-
Preta. light industry predominates, and ports increased by 18%. Domestic Pro-
the area is characterized by low-cost duct has increased by 10% in each of the
housing and some high-rise buildings. past two years with considerable sectoral
The relaxing of border controls with diversification becoming increasingly evi-
China in 1979, along with considerable dent, although coupled with a slackening
development planning and construction in growth. lo There remains a pressure on “‘DeparIment of
in the contiguous Zhuhai Special Econo- laid for industrial and commercial uses, ~~~$~;S;. jjTOhYenment
mic Zone, has had a dramatic effect on and on housing for high-rise flats. economy of Macau in
the modern urban landscape of this upper It is Questionable
1
whether the nast has
I
1984'. Economic
peninsular area. A leather tannery and a valid future in this contemporary urban Bulleth Quarterly, No 4,
December 1984.
high-rise hostel for workers, managed setting. Compared with its dynamic
from the People’s Republic, is an exam- neighbour Hong Kong, Macau retains
ple of Chinese initiative within the many of the characteristics of its historic-
boundaries of Macau. al pre-industrial patterns. Developers
Macau has a low-income labour force. who ‘discovered’ Macau during the late
The general system of preferences for 1970s would change this. The all-
developing countries gives Macau a pervading marks of modern urbanism are
favoured position in many markets in the inexorably reducing old Macau to the
developed world. Light, labour-intensive urban norm.
industry had migrated from Hong Kong. Government is acutely conscious of the
Some 80% of exports rely on trade architectural heritage that is fast dis-
quotas and preferences, but leave Macau appearing and moves to slow down the
vulnerable to changing world policies and rate of change, and to seek a reprieve by
patterns. declaring a moritorium on further high-
With the recent establishment of a rise building in the older, more sensitive
Directorate of Economic Services, statis- areas while it establishes a basis for future
tics recording economic growth have planning. A contract had recently been
become more readily available. They made for the completion of a master plan
record that export growth was substained for the city. Meanwhile, individual build-
in Macau throughout 1984. Exports in- ings are being restored. An ‘architectural

CITIES February 1986

 tYPologY’ of buildings (Portuguese, A ve~idu ~o~el~eiro Ferreiru de
Chinese and mixed, pre-1950, 1950-60, Alrneida, which exemplifies architecture
196N30) has been devised and the inner that is ‘simultaneously Mediterranean
city mapped. The area covers what has and Chinese’, has extended the concept
been designated as the Urban Interven- of restoration towards that of the ‘histor-
tion Plan for the Avenidu Almeida ical townscape’. In the private sector,
~ibei~o - the ‘new’ street which in 1915 architect Nuno Jorge has incorporated
cut a swarth through the more tortuous the wall and features of the old fortress of
“P and T Gabinete de streets of the old city. It has a substantial- St James of the Barrier, the Barra fort,
Arquitectura e ly wider cross-section than the adjoining into the exterior design of the Pousada de
Planeamento,
Evaluafion of the Urban streets and, in the style of the S&o Tiago, a small hotel.
Form in Ma&au,Macau, architecture of the time, has covered With the linking of the island to the
1964. pavements in the form of arcades mainland in 1974, Taipa began to lose its
‘*CL Duncan, ‘The
Macau city region, a achieved by recessing the ground floors in essentially rural character.12 It now dis-
~rioriconcepts and relation to the floors above. Objectives of plays many of the characteristics typical
Macau’s development’, the plan involve urban renovation with of rural-urban fringe development. Col-
V.F.S. Sit, ed,
Resources and
rehabilitation of the more degraded oane, linked to Taipa by a causeway, is
~evelopmenf of the pockets, the maintenance of historical further from the rest of he city but still
Pear! River De&a, Wide buildings and a development of its com- vulnerable to urban expansion. A cul-
Angle Press, Hong
Kong, 1984, pp 14Q-
mercial and tourist potential. *’ tural village incorporating a group of old
164. A street of buildings fronting on to the mansions is planned for the Avenidu da

Figure 4. Model of the city of Macau, showing comprehensive regional development planning
study for Are& Preta and the Outer Harbour. (P and T Gabinete de Arquitectura e Planeamento,
Macau.)

10 CITIES February 1986

Pruia on Taipa, in an effort to preserve historic features, an educational pro-
the architecture of homes built for Portu- gramme and ‘tax benefits and other incen-
guese civil servants. tives that might be helpful in the pre-
New development is extending the servation and restoration of items classi-
city’s economic potential as strategic fied as being of cultural heritage value’,
planning concentrates on infrastructural the latter a realistic addition to the
extension and upgrading (Figure 4). programme already under way.
About 150 hectares of land are to be Macau is changing as, inevitably, it
reclaimed for the Areia Preta and Porto must. Neighbouring Hong Kong is an
Exterior areas, away from the old city but example of growth that disregarded herit-
in areas of recent expansion. Initial and age in the inner city expansion. Singapore
short-term phases have been planned for is another that has lost its cultural roots.
various land uses and will be completed The final appeal for viability as a unique
within the next decade. A new passenger and historical city could be unique to
terminal for the busy Porto Exterior is Macau. Nor need commercial interests be
included in the development. Elsewhere disregarded. One third of city revenues
the first phase of a deep-water port for come from the casino franchise and
Macau, to be financed by internal rev- tourism and gambling are inextricably
enues, is under way. interwoven. As more hotel space be-
In spite of the economic demands comes available, real efforts are being
which collectively place considerable made to provide other attractions for a
pressure on the government, a compre- greater range of tourists. The govern-
ment has shown a lead in a programme of
‘one third of city revenues maintenance and rejuvenation of selected
come from the casino sites and the giant STDM, holder of the
gambling franchise, has given financial
franchise’ support to historical preservation pro-
hensive, integrated programme of herit- grammes. Before it is too late, Macau
age preservation and revitalization work must resolve the conflict between de-
has been drawn up. The policy docu- velopment and historic preservation
ment, as submitted by the Secretary of through a balanced programme of land-
Education, Culture and Tourism, Dr scape conservation, aimed at establishing
Jorge Rangel, contains a heritage protec- an urban ambience which is attractive
tion statement covering inventory, plan- and acceptable to both tourists and resi-
ning, legislation for reclassification of dents.

CITIES February 1986 11