Decolonial approaches to research in Urban Planning

Abstract

The paper highlights the relevance of decolonial epistemes in the debate on urban planning and social movements, valuing the protagonism of subjugated groups in the construction of new knowledge capable of adding tension to the current order. The decolonial key allows us to understand that the formation of segregation patterns is a social-racial-spatial event through which various mechanisms of oppression linked to race, gender, class, and regional backgrounds operate. The focus of the research is the dimension of the periphery as a sociopolitical territory, that is, the analysis of expressions, actions, and initiatives of movements and/or social groups that gain legitimacy by producing their own political, social, and cultural perspectives about and for the city. The methodology adopted values the epistemic protagonism of the bearers of the analyzed experiences, articulating categories of the decolonial debate with the process and results of two field experiences within the Quilombo Abayomi collective, based on the methodological perspective of Oscar Jara Holliday's systematization of experiences. As a result, it presents challenges to the field of urban planning by introducing decolonial theoretical and methodological approaches that value peripheral territorialities and promote a paradigmatic shift composed of other epistemes.