Emancipatory paths: Socio-spatial problematizations mediated by interfaces in Boa Vista /RR

Abstract

The socio-spatial and economic contradictions of the neoliberal capitalist society, in which we find ourselves immersed, are increasing and inherent/necessary to the system. Dealing with sustainable urban development, mainly in Latin America and the Caribbean, first requires unveiling such contradictions and seeking emancipatory ways to overcome them.

Based on (1) Henry Lefebvre’s theory of production of space, and his perspective of the irruption of a differential space arising from the contradictions of abstract space (LEFEBVRE, 1992); (2) the action of socio-spatial groups in the appropriation and production of urban space as a confrontation and resistance to established power, constituting a counterpower according to SOUZA (2006); (3) autonomy in the collective production of everyday space as a condition for socio-environmental sustainability from the micro-local scale, according to HAMDI (2004) and defended by KAPP [2012] (2022); (4) the critical theory of conventional architecture practices as well as the investigation and testing of open means, interfaces, which enable alternative and autonomous practices in the production of everyday space, developed by the research group Morar de Outras Maneiras – MOM of the School of Architecture of the Universidade Federal of Minas Gerais EA/UFMG; I set out to investigate and advise a socio-spatial group in Boa Vista, capital of the State of Roraima, that is squatting a public land, which is a temporary lagoon, creating stilts, in a friendly way with the environment. This is an area of permanent environment protection, then, by law, they could not remain there. They live under threat of removal. Their main demands are for securing their right to stay put and for infrastructural improvements.

Spaces produced on the margins of capitalist production, but determined by its logic, are insurgent spaces, spaces of resistance, appropriated and transformed against the grain of the formal real estate market and environmental norms and laws of land use and occupation. They usually have weaknesses resulting from the scarcity of financial and technical resources, however they are created while being constructed and used, in self-managed, open and creative processes. They commonly resort to technical assistance in architecture, engineering and law, in order to relate to institutions that pressure and/or manipulate them.

The Uruguayan Cooperatives or the Paulista Mutirões are examples of self-management initiatives mediated by technical advisors that built houses in a participatory way, with the prior definition of space through conventional architectural and urban design. However, justified and participatory such initiatives may be, they still support the design/construction/use division and end up reproducing heteronomous processes, which only maintain the status quo.

Engaged in the theory and practice of the research group MOM, I start from the conception of architecture as the transformation of space by human work and from the role of the architect as a designer of devices that are socio-spatial problematizers and not finished products for solving problems. This implies not producing projects, but proposing interfaces that will stimulate the capacity for self-determination in decisions and some gain in autonomy for builders and users. So, I intend to investigate, analyze and expose the process of production of space mediated by interfaces; extract categories; make explicit determinations, contradictions and conflicts; evaluate possible gains in autonomy, socio-spatial awareness and self-determination in the decisions of advisees.

The temporary pond, occupied by the group under study, is in the Alvorada neighborhood, northwest of the city. It is composed of 20 (twenty) Venezuelan and 4 (four) Brazilian families who built stilt houses interconnected by walkways. The buildings mostly have a wooden structure, fiber cement roofs, and fences with PVC linings, plywood and wood from construction waste. Their main demands are to obtain land tenure regularization and the improvement of infrastructure conditions: access walkways to homes, sewage collection network, regular supply of water and electricity (today access is clandestine).

After carrying out some activities as vehicles for approximation and self-knowledge of the group, having detected the initial demands, I have been building interfaces that raise the debate, explain conflicts, contradictions, determinations and promote technical information, aiming at expanding the imaginary, the collective construction of knowledge of this group, and provide gains in autonomy and self-determination in their choices.

At the same time, I am trying to form a theoretical-practical research group on architecture as an interface, including technical assistance with interfaces within the Federal University of Roraima UFRR.

Key words: social-spatial groups, informal settlements, architecture with interfaces, technical advice

References:

BALTAZAR, Ana Paula; KAPP, Silke; TUGNY, Augustin de. Interfaces como estratégia metodológica. In: Silke Kapp e Ana Baltazar (eds.), Moradias e outras margens, volume 1. Belo Horizonte: MOM, [2014] 2022. pp. 293-311.

HAMDI, Nabeel. Small change: about the art of practice and the limits of planning in cities. London: Earthscan, 2004.

KAPP, Silke. Socio-spatial groups or whom technical advisory practice serves. Revista Brasileira de Estudos Urbanos e Regionais, v. 20, 2018, pp. 221–236.

                     Uma tipologia de espaços cotidianos. In: BALTAZAR, Ana Paula; KAPP, Silke (eds.). Moradia e outras margens, volume 1. Belo Horizonte: MOM, [2012] 2022. pp. 411-436.

LEFEBVRE, Henri. The production of space. Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell, 1991.

SOUZA, Marcelo Lopes de. Together with the state, despite the state, against the state – social movements as ‘critical urban planning’ agents. City, Vol. 10, No. 3, December 2006.