Urban Space and Insurgent Practices in Porto Alegre, Brazil

Abstract

Urban spaces are built from complex layers of territory. The relationships between different social agents result in this construction and in the consolidation of spaces' territorialization. The present work follows the criticism on the hegemonic thinking in architecture and urban planning. This article aims to understand the counter-hegemonic spatial practices, developed by heterogeneous actors, as strategies of urban space territorialization. The main goal is to analyze how the articulation between different social agents appears in the territorialization and spatialization of the developed practices. Therefore, the methodological approach used is a case study about the spatial area 4th District of Porto Alegre. In addition, non-participant observation at seminars and events held by social agents was part of the method, as well as interviews with local representatives. As a result, we assess the construction of action networks of counter-hegemonic territorialization. Considering particularities, they operate in different ways on the resistance to the dominant urban planning culture, which repeatedly neglects the demands of poor and vulnerable people.