Descrição
From a comparative point of view, the given article is concerned with the possibilities and restrictions of urban self-organization within city’s neighbourhoods. Drawing upon a qualitative comparison between the case studies Alto de Ondina and Alto da Sereia – two disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods in the southern city centre of Salvador da Bahia (Brazil) – and considering the conditional framework of daily life there, the idiographic context conditions that foster and alternatively impede self-organization are to be developed on data drawn from empirical surveys. Here, the data-led interpretations reach beyond the local and regional context and offer fundamental insights into auto-centered and autonomous acts of articulation. In Brazil, participative planning processes have been the common sense for urban governance. However, participative strategies tend to stand under the sign of codetermination, whereas the principles of self-determination and auto-centered articulation of collective interests are immantently present during processes of civic self-organization. Due to the fact that self-organized communities do not fall within a defined institutional framework or existing system, they are capable to articulate their needs and interests collectively. The underlying concept of “Agora Governance” in accordance with Korff & Rothfuss (2009) offers the possibility to stimulate urban management processes in a sustainable way, bringing together the civic perspective of the “human city” and the expert perspective of the “infrastructural city” into a consensual but often highly disputed negotiation process.||A partir de uma perspectiva comparativa, o artigo aborda as possibilidades e restrições da auto-organização urbana em unidades de vizinhança. Por meio de uma comparação qualitativa de dois estudos de caso, Alto de Ondina e Alto da Sereia, dois bairros desprivilegiados no centro sul de Salvador da Bahia (Brasil), e levando-se em consideração as condições gerais do cotidiano de cada lugar, se depreendem indutivamente dos dados empíricos as condições idiográficas do contexto que fomentam e restringem a auto-organização. Com isto, as interpretações baseadas nos dados empíricos vão além do contexto local e regional e oferecem um conhecimento básico sobre a articulação autocentrada e autônoma. Até o momento, os processos participativos de planejamento têm se guiado no Brasil pelo senso comum no que tange a governança urbana. Enquanto estratégias participativas possam tendencialmente ser caracterizadas por cogestão, a auto-organização civil, sendo expressão de autodeterminação, consiste na articulação de interesses coletivos. Com isto, as comunidades auto-organizadas não se amoldam num enquadramento institucional ou num sistema existente e são, consequentemente, capazes de articular coletivamente seus interesses, opiniões e necessidades. O conceito subjacente da “Governança-Ágora/Agora-Governance”, segundo Korff e Rothfuss (2009), pode estar na base da gestão urbana sustentável, levando a um processo de negociação consensual, mas, muitas vezes, assumindo também um caráter competitivo, entre a perspectiva dos cidadãos da “cidade humana” e a perspectiva dos especialistas da “cidade da infraestrutura”.
Abstract
URBAN SELF-ORGANISATION IN DEPRIVED NEIGHBORHOODS: POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITS OF AUTONOMOUS COLLECTIVE ARTICULATION IN SALVADOR DA BAHIA
From a comparative point of view, the given article is concerned with the possibilities and restrictions of urban self-organization within city’s neighbourhoods. Drawing upon a qualitative comparison between the case studies Alto de Ondina and Alto da Sereia – two disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods in the southern city centre of Salvador da Bahia (Brazil) – and considering the conditional framework of daily life there, the idiographic context conditions that foster and alternatively impede self-organization are to be developed on data drawn from empirical surveys. Here, the data-led interpretations reach beyond the local and regional context and offer fundamental insights into auto-centered and autonomous acts of articulation. In Brazil, participative planning processes have been the common sense for urban governance. However, participative strategies tend to stand under the sign of codetermination, whereas the principles of self-determination and auto-centered articulation of collective interests are immantently present during processes of civic self-organization. Due to the fact that self-organized communities do not fall within a defined institutional framework or existing system, they are capable to articulate their needs and interests collectively. The underlying concept of “Agora Governance” in accordance with Korff & Rothfuss (2009) offers the possibility to stimulate urban management processes in a sustainable way, bringing together the civic perspective of the “human city” and the expert perspective of the “infrastructural city” into a consensual but often highly disputed negotiation process.
