Descrição
To understand the production of space in urban informal settlements, we should perceive it not as just a product of the urban poverty concentration or an incomplete imitation of formal structures, sharing the same symbolic values. Albeit calling themselves as “communities” - a way to emphasizes the idea of “living among equals” - the Brazilians slums are, in fact, quite a heterogeneous space, with strong internal tensions and diverse possibilities of appropriation and sense of belonging. A territory organized by specific procedures and spatial tactics, settled and transformed by a dynamic everyday life, making possible to produce a very rich spacial structure and social networks. Typical urban practices found in those informal settlements may be understood as tactic movements, in Certeau´s assumption. As tactics they can develop a creative capacity to deal with the established power relations, acting in the system fissures, to overcome some aspects of economical and social precariousness in a segregated structure.||Para entender a produção do espaço em assentamentos informais, não devemos percebê-los como um mero produto da concentração da pobreza urbana ou, ainda, como uma imitação incompleta e restrita das estruturas formais, partilhando com estas os mesmo valores simbólicos. Ainda que se autodenominem como “comunidades” - um modo de enfatizar a ideia de convivência entre iguais - as favelas são, na verdade, um espaço bastante heterogêneo, com fortes tensões internas e possibilidades diversas de apropriação e pertencimento. Uma estrutura espacial rica e complexa, articulada em um território estruturado por praticas urbanas específicas. Podemos entender estas práticas através do conceito de táticas de Certeau, pois suas possibilidades criativas permitem lidar com as relações de poder, atuando nas fissuras do sistema para superar alguns aspectos da precariedade sócio-econômica de uma estrutura urbana segregadora.
Abstract
SPATIAL PRACTICES AND PRODUCTION OF SPACE IN INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS
To understand the production of space in urban informal settlements, we should perceive it not as just a product of the urban poverty concentration or an incomplete imitation of formal structures, sharing the same symbolic values. Albeit calling themselves as “communities” - a way to emphasizes the idea of “living among equals” - the Brazilians slums are, in fact, quite a heterogeneous space, with strong internal tensions and diverse possibilities of appropriation and sense of belonging. A territory organized by specific procedures and spatial tactics, settled and transformed by a dynamic everyday life, making possible to produce a very rich spacial structure and social networks. Typical urban practices found in those informal settlements may be understood as tactic movements, in Certeau´s assumption. As tactics they can develop a creative capacity to deal with the established power relations, acting in the system fissures, to overcome some aspects of economical and social precariousness in a segregated structure.
