A praça enquanto espaço ativador da vitalidade urbana : investigação sobre um espaço livre público e seu entorno no bairro dos bancários, em João Pessoa - PB

Abstract

The research aims to study a public open space located in the city of João Pessoa - PB, the Praça da Paz, since it provides a set of characteristics, allowing it to be observed and analyzed in terms of urban vitality. The theoretical-methodological approach is inspired by the concept of the world as a network made up of human and non-human actors (Toussaint, 2003; Latour, 2012), transposed here as Social Dispositions and Spatial Technical Devices of the Urban (DTSU) (Akrich, 2014; Toussaint, 2003). We start by observing a series of signs of urban vitality and questioning the dynamics that sustain it over time; we also question the collectives present in the square, which are capable of having repercussions on their surroundings. We used direct and photographic observation techniques (Observation Protocol), cartographic systematization (QGis and Photoshop), as well as the Urban Safari for the spatial characterization of the square and its surroundings. They allowed us to understand the collective of urban objects, how they act and relate to each other, or even by what processes they are the target of manifestations of social appropriation over time. By translating the socio-technical network of Praça da Paz, conflicts, regulations, problems and contradictions were mapped and narrated. The perception of the mobilization of collectives, as well as the choice on the part of its daily users - albeit with reservations and regulations - to maintain their leisure and commercial activities, their physical exercise and socialization rituals in the public space appears quite strongly. Finally, we conclude that the socio-technical network of Praça da Paz comprises a set of controversial socio-spatial dynamics, but which are the result of the engagement of specific publics and are therefore perennial; something intrinsic to urban vitality.