Ricerc@Sapienza

The paper investigates and documents the raise and the decay of Sugarcane Mills a
productive territorial system, a settlement system, composed by architectural warehouse,
harbors and railway infrastructures in Puerto Rico. The Sugarcane Mills characterized the
identity, the history and the economy of the island for more than 100 years together with their
architectural elements and the workers housing settlements (formal and informal). By 1940,
there were 44 mills in operation in Puerto Rico. They were – and still are – dislocated along
the coasts next to logistic harbor and in the inner agricultural land. They were served by
dedicated railway tracks connecting the productive areas to the coastal line. In the 1940s,
however, the mills began to weaken, due to various factors. Between 1951 and 1968, 17
mills ceased operations. At the end of the 1960s, the government tried to rescue the industry
through a recovery program and in 1973 created the Sugar Corporation. Despite the fact that
the government became the principal sugar producer in Puerto Rico, the mills, both privately
and publicly funded, were shut down, one by one. In 2000, operations ceased at the last mills
still functioning: Roig in Yabucoa and Coloso, which had operated for nearly 100 years in
the municipality of Aguada. The Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico has already consider the
problem of Sugar Mill preservation although the economic diffi culties are relevant. The paper
will provide evidence of other similar case studies discussing the problem of preservation in
other countries were the economic and social situation is different, considering also the most
recent post-hurricane disaster events.