TRANSFORMATION OF SPACES INTO PLACES IN LOW-INCOME COMMUNITIES: THE CASE OF THE VILA PARQUE DA CIDADE FAVELA

Abstract

We pretend comprehend, through this research, in a self-built popular comunitity, the construction of the ‘place’ and answer to the questions about how the ocupation happens, the expand of this kind of comunity and, there, make the relations between the dinamic of the free or built spaces transformations and the use of the public spaces. There will be made relations between this free and built spaces, their ocupation in all the ways, and, specialy, the mecanisms and strategies used by the inhabitants to allow the comprehention about the limits between public and private domains. There were taken concepts like space, place, culture, ‘favela’, ‘ancrage’, public and private domains, and then, subdivided in two concepts: ‘experience’ and ‘spaciality’. The results presented were based on informations coleted by the aplication of instruments selected by the etnographic method reseach, in a poor comunity choosed as our case study, the Vila Parque da Cidade and they must colaborate to the future elaborations of intervention strategies and improvment of this poor spaces, in agreement of the identity elements of this little culture formed, avoid a wrong use of the parametres shown by the formal city.