Using Placemaking Methodologies to Transform Degraded Public Spaces into Places

Abstract

Communities living in Latin American slums present more vulnerability of diseases, high rates of infant mortality, and low life expectancy, generally as a result of the high levels of soil contamination. Furthermore, in our case study of the 4th District of Porto Alegre, the community depends on recycling materials from waste for their livelihood. In consequence, the public spaces are used as a garbage dump, accentuating health problems and making social interactions difficult. In this context, our applied research group aims to construct social spaces, improving the inhabitants’ quality of life through participative methodologies that encourage the use of the public spaces of these districts without prejudice of the economic system based on garbage. Our strategy relies on the actions and interactions of humans and the place in sub developed urban areas.

Keywords

Public spaces placemaking methodologies urban acupuncture tactical urbanism Porto Alegre neighborhoods

Introduction

Poverty kills by the adverse conditions to which it subjects human beings. The “diseases of poverty” (Singh & Singh, 2008) occur whether due to the non-access to proper sanitary facilities or health services (Augusto et al., 2012), healthy housing (Da Silva, 2013), and absence to culture, education, full civil participation, and the political representation of its ethnical, social, cultural and economic specificities. Therefore, poverty and starvation are serious human rights violations because they represent attacks to the human dignity (Schaber, 2011).

There is a strong congruence between poverty, violence, and public health, which are spatialized in Latin American cities by geo-referenced social indicators denoting socio-spatial inequalities that are usually camouflaged by average indices such as the following: (a) life expectancy at birth, (b) infant mortality, and (c) average family income (Bitran et al., 2005; Briceño-Leon, 2005; Garland et al., 2007). In analyzing the spatial distribution of infant mortality cases in the city of Porto Alegre, Shimakura et al. (2001) showed a highly significant spatial variation in the risk for neonatal mortality, which was related to data on the conditions of socioeconomic variables. The study shows a concentration in the neighborhoods of the North and Northwest zones of Porto Alegre, where our region of study and intervention is located: the 4th District.

This region is characterized by an old industrial and port area that suffered abandonment and economic-social regression due to the reconversions and relocations of industrial plants in the 1970s (Franco, 1992; Souza & Muller, 1997). As a result, the industrial and residential workers' property built between the end of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century presents itself in strong architectural degradation as well as the urban space that surrounds it.

The surviving economic and social activities share urban degradation with activities of Brazilians in misery: collecting and sorting of solid waste (Demajorovic & Lima, 2013; Steigleder, 2017). These activities, although many regularized and organized by the public power (there are formal and informal recyclers), bring to the region a concentration of solid waste much greater than that produced locally, attracting rodents and insects, and aggravating precariousness in public health (Demajorovic & Lima, 2013; Rosado, 2009; Steigleder, 2017).

As a result of its location, on the urban borders and in close proximity to the airport and the most important road-rail junction in Porto Alegre, the 4th District suffers from the constant noise and atmospheric pollution typical of these regions. If this were not enough, the poor communities of the 4th district occupy areas of land that are generally characterized as flood regions.

According to Dal Bosco (2003, p. 436), democracy in Latin America “has not been able to safeguard the basic rights of its citizens,” because of either the inefficiency of governments and public policies or the corruption of governments that harm the poorest groups to the detriment of the richest. In this way, the emphasis of social inequality in Brazil tends to reach levels of poverty that result in insufficient minimum nutritional and health standards for a significant part of the population. Although we are far from the reality of developed countries, where organized civil society groups and non-governmental organizations have a significant impact on social development; in Brazil, these entities have acted to minimize the lack of opportunities and on minimum health conditions (Dal Bosco, 2003).

In the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the history of the community university network, is structured by cooperatives or other forms of organized civil society, and religious organizations: Christian, Protestant, Judaic, Methodist, etc. (Dal Bosco, 2003). In this context, our institution is one of these protagonists and uses these actions like subsides of applied university research as a real experience for students. Our working group comprises professors and students, our partners in the Sustainability and Citizenship Network (municipality by their employees and the local Entrepreneurs Association). The purpose of the Cooperation Network is to create a sense of community and appropriation of the neighborhood by the actions that try to improve the quality in urban public spaces.

In view of the context presented, it is perceived that our strategies need to give positive fast results in problematic urban contexts due to socio-economic-spatial segregation induced by both the traditional urban real-estate market laws and by the continued omission of public power (whether municipal, regional, or national) in these spaces. The concentration of these problems is accentuated by the low level of education and of appropriation of the residents by the neighborhoods where they live, being themselves protagonists of the degradation of public spaces neighboring their residences. Thus, our strategy can be described as an attempt to change the current situation through small, localized gradual actions, seeking to radiate “urban quality” beyond the spaces of action, in a strategy of acupunctural interventions that can also be considered as part of the tactical urbanism.

Improvised Planning

The strategy used by us could be defined as a mixture of urban acupuncture and the use of tactical urbanism. In theory, urban acupuncture and tactical urbanism are similar and complementary strategies of participatory planning especially used to improve urban areas.

The concept of urban acupuncture becomes famous with the Spanish architect and urbanist Manuel de Solà-Morales. De Solà-Morales and other authors understand the urban space as a human body (Ackroyd, 2007; De Solà-Morales, 2008) and, like them, have some nerve points where an action could heal and irradiate the development for the neighboring regions. In this direction, the urban acupuncture is characterized by a small scale of urban interventions, connected between them, by the presence of a spontaneous or participative activity organized by a group of citizens (specially neighbors) and, normally, applied in a place where there are some issues: urban degradation, violence, traffic problems, and others (Apostolou, 2015; Casagrande, 2014; Casagrande, 2015; Casanova & Hernàndez, 2014).

De Solà-Morales influenced urbanism with these principles, but the concept matured some years before, in Brazil, by Jaime Lerner. The famous urbanist Jaime Lerner used this expression to explain his projects and actions as Mayor of the Municipality of Curitiba between 1971–75, 1979–83, and 1989–92. The concept of Lerner tries to explain how the specific interventions in one block, or one park (or others) can have an effect in the surrounding neighborhoods (Lerner, 1937/2011). The concept of Lerner emerged from the need of Brazilian urbanists (and Latin American in general) having to develop their cities without destroying the social networks solidified by years of spontaneous settlements resulting in the inefficiency of governments and urban policies. At the same time, the urban acupuncture does not need strong financial politics, adapting perfectly to the economic conditions of Latin American cities

In the international and academic level, the concept of urban acupuncture is recently associated to the Finnish architect Marco Casagrande (2013) that gave a new dimension to the concept: the use of nature in public spaces. In this line, the principle of connection between nervous points, developed by Morales, is highlighted. Together, Casagrande (2013) and Casanova and Hernandez (2014) are actually the most cited theoreticians of urban acupuncture.

In our participatory planning methodology, urban acupuncture is understood as the major strategy of action that intends, through specific actions in public spaces, to trigger positive dynamics in the way of life and in the appropriation of the urban space by the inhabitants of neglected urban areas. Such dynamics are also intended to include activities of environmental education and gradual improvement in public health.

Tactical urbanism is associated with the form of “redoing” the public space. That is, the use of low-cost prototypes (the use of pallets is adapted to our reality), ephemeral or permanent character (depending on the situation), constructed as a response to a problem of insalubrity or urban violence.

For Webb (2018), this type of informal urbanism is utilized as an inspiration to progressive place making, where the inhabitant aimed at influencing the way places are governed. Tactical urbanism is used in different situations for temporary and improvised low-cost spatial changes with quick results that “give citizens more direct control over urban space” (Alisdairi, 2014, p.1). This strategy is especially used in precarious communities, where the absence of local government investments is evident (Apostolou, 2015; Elrahma, 2016; Webb, 2018).

Tactical urbanism is one tendency of social, political, and urban planning movements that appeared in the nineteenth century in consequence of a grown and diversified population, involved in political and economic changes (Lydon & Garcia, 2015). In some cases, this action developed for a group of planners and community received the attention of the public and government support to change improvised planning into permanent projects (Lydon & Garcia, 2015). In this case, tactical urbanism could be understood as a power strategy used by urban activists to drive lasting improvements in the precarious neighborhoods.

The dynamics used by us are associated with the demands made by the collaboration network of the 4th district, which, to a certain extent, has induced the type of systematization of actions due to (a) the scarce time that university staff is usually available to program and carry out the actions, (b) their urgency, and (c) low investment capacity. Therefore, actions must be planned and structured quickly for social activation.

We also need to make residents and users in general protagonists of the actions, intervening and monitoring the results of each new intervention, be it physical or social. This strategy agrees with the working conditions of the project: the need to revert situations of extreme precariousness in an emergency, with fast actions and with few resources, generating positive externalities in the community; either by the appreciation of community public life or by environmental education related to waste and the sense of ownership by the inhabitants of these urban spaces.

In this context, the work methodology responds to the conditions in which they occur. Because our workforce is voluntary and generally involves many students (elementary, high school, and college students), we prioritize the educational factor in the projects. Thus, we learn about the spaces, the uses, and community appropriations adjusting these places as we know better the users and monitor the appropriation of these spaces. Such a project never ends because it is continually adapting to the needs of the communities. Placemaking and urban acupuncture methodologies describe our process well. Here follows a brief description of our methodological framework.

The places of action are diverse, and they depend on both the perception of the group and the most problematic areas, allied to the specific demands of the community. Usually, actions occur on streets (not considered as streets but not organized for urban activities other than as a passage), or on degraded or occupied squares (drugs and delinquencies) in the disadvantaged neighborhoods of the 4th District of Porto Alegre.

Therefore, the strategy of tactical urbanism responds to the need to not let the commitment and energy of the network agents and community inhabitants die down. When they ask for help to restructure a space, it is because the problems arising from these spaces has reached their daily life. The presence of trash and rodents transmitting diseases, children who injured themselves with debris, or worse, spaces that concentrate everyday crimes. Therefore, the urgency of the community dictates the agenda of actions.

We understand that there is no better urban space expert than the users and residents of the area. We do not have any deterministic pretension, since it is not up to us to define the types of use, but to read the interests and uses of the community, integrating them gradually to the space, although the space takes a long time to be structured from the physical and social point of view. Such strategies usually devote a lot of “participative” time in designing the project and workshops. Our projects are rarely designed exhaustively. They start from a quick discussion with community leaders and a general space strategy. Sometimes the very lack of a complex project to execute opens spaces for voluntary, creative, and curious participation of the community.

In order to better clarify our strategy and provide support for a critical analysis, we chose to present our actions through an example, the intervention in the alley between the Basic Health Unit (BHU) and the state school Oswaldo Vergara Elementary School, in the Farrapos neighborhood, 4th District of Porto Alegre. The following is an illustrative image of the place of action, the reference elements close to it and our location, as a leading institution in the 4th District (figure 1).

Figure 1.

Characterizing the place of study (counterclockwise): (a) General location of Porto Alegre in Brazil; (b) Location of 4°District; (c) neighborhood and environment; (d) location and view of BHU, 2018, digital. Source: Google earth images, adapted by author.

Step-By-Step: Bhu Place, an Illustration Of Actions in the 4th District

Planning, designing, doing the action

As previously mentioned, we never start an action in urban space without this intervention being requested for by the community. Each action begins with a conversation with the requesting actors regarding the problems of the area, if they already have some specific demand, when it would be possible to schedule the first action (figure 2). This first step provides us with subsidies to organize the other activities.

Figure 2.

Characterizing the phases of study: (a) First discussions with the agents of the Basic Health Unit; (b) first visit to the alley next to the BHU, location of the action (March 23, 2017), digital. Source: Author.

Thus a schedule is established that counts with a visit to the intervention place, if possible, accompanied by the applicants, other community actors, our partners, and college students. Possible short-term and other desirable long-term intervention possibilities are discussed at the very site of the action.

Then we gather social actors and students to begin the spatialization of the projects of furniture, vegetation, requalification of the existing ones as well as we launch the first proposals of furniture. This whole stage is participatory, but it is done very quickly, so that the action can take place in a few weeks and usually with little finalization. We always have a first proposal for 2–3 pieces of urban furniture (launching the action) and leave others open for collective action in the place to decide where and how they will happen.

Actions are fast, occurring in one day: in the morning, preparations, and in the afternoon, the action itself. On the day of the action, the first stage depends on the collaboration of our partners (PMPA¹ and AEHN²) who are in charge of cleaning the site; removing debris, organic, and dry trash deposited there (DMLU³); mowing high grass (SMAM⁴); and collecting and transporting the pallets to the intervention site (Figure 3).

Figure 3.

Characterizing the phases of study: (a) Arrival of pallets and (b) help of gardeners and workers of DC mall to plant tree seedlings (March 23, 2017), digital. Source: author.

At the moment of action, the first step is always to organize the work, and divide into groups and tasks according to the schedule and action plan previously defined, although at the moment the of action, it is common to exchange people by activity.

The first action, in the case used as an example, is the separation of the pallets by dimensional groups (there are significant differences between pallets) and the pre-painting of these, which in addition to speeding up the finishing, is a fairly easy and risk-free task that can be performed by community children in action. The painting of the existing furniture or degraded walls is also commonly delegated to the little ones, who usually love it (figures 4 and 5).

Figure 4.

Characterizing the phases of study: (a) Separation of the pallets; (b) painting of the pallets; and (c) completion of cleaning and preparation of the sites for planting trees and vegetables (March 23, 2017), digital. Source: Author.

Figure 5.

Characterizing the phases of study: (a) Preparation of pallets; (b) inventions at the time of action with pallets or other debris; and (c) little hands-on approach, but a lot of community interest (March 23, 2017), digital. Source: Author.

Most of the time is spent assembling the furniture, where there are many arms, many hands, and many potential users, ready to jump up and play on them, even before completion (Figure 7). Also, the planting of flower beds and fruits trees is started (figure 6). We have chosen to plant shade trees that are also fruitful, thinking about the food security of poor neighborhood residents and the homeless. We believe that the health of the residents depends on the health of the urban public spaces and the pleasure and quality of life that they provide. But in the Latin American context, the health problem also depends on ensuring a daily diet rich in vitamins, proteins, and other important nutrients and we know that residents of the 4th District do not always have access to this healthy daily diet.

Figure 6.

Characterizing the phases of study: (a) and (b) Planting of fruit trees with great intervention of the children; (c) begin construction of the flower beds (March 23, 2017), digital. Source: Author.

Figure 7.

Characterizing the phases of study: (a) Planting of flowerbeds with great intervention of the children; (b) temporary appropriation of furniture, before its even concluded (March 23, 2017), digital. Source: Author.

It is important to point out that many adult residents have joined the action, to give suggestions, participate in some stage, or just take photos. Few were fully involved in this. Those who have been involved are also those who have sought to continue the action, either by recovering some vandalized furniture, by painting others, or by giving us feedback on what has been good or bad, or what could be done in the next steps. However, we had a high presence of children, some of whom were brought by the school teachers (both during the school day and after school) and others who appeared spontaneously with their mothers and some adolescents who helped and participated in the actions when they passed by the place.

Upon completion, we held a discussion among organizers and we understood that despite the publicity made, there was no interest and maybe even a type of distrust in the neighborhood where people were tired of promises made by public authority of improvements in the area. Thus, our strategy was to continue this activation in the following months: monitoring and re-intervening with physical actions or activities.

We also try to give a lot of visibility to this, either through the official channels of communication—the municipality (PMPA) website, the Association of Entrepreneurs (AEHN) website, and local newspapers—or through informal channels—a Facebook page of the Faculty of Architecture, IPA, and other partners and Facebook pages of the participants (figure 8). The fact that one of the local newspapers sent reporters, photographers, and other technicians to the area resulted in a report published in the dominical journal that gave great visibility to the action.

Figure 8.

Characterizing the phases of study: (a) Photo of completion with the main actors involved in the group and the community that remained until the end; (b) official photo of the action with presence of the mayor (March 23, 2017), digital. Source: Author.

Monitoring Action 1

In the next two months, we monitored the place. At the same time, there was rapid deterioration of the furniture made with pallets (typical of tactical urbanism) and the flower boxes. Regarding the furnishings, we observed that the painting faded away (the climatic and seasonal changes wore out the paint), some were dismantled, and others broken. In the same way, many flowers were stolen or disheveled, clearly showing visual degradation. The trash was back. Lack of maintenance by the public authority allowed advanced growth of vegetation as well (Figure 9).

Figure 9.

Return to the site with community leader (April 13, 2017), digital. Source: Author.

However, some pallets had been re-invested by the residents, being repainted. In the same way, the fruit trees had not been uprooted and appeared to stabilize as afforestation (Figure 9), except for those planted near the pavement, which either were cut down (we believe that these trees disturbed the pedestrians) or died due to lack of irrigation or unsuitable soil.

In the same way, we noticed through some visits to the place, but also thanks to the return of city hall employees, local community leaders, and even students of the Faculty of Architecture who reside in the vicinity, important use of some of the furniture. Precisely the same furniture was re-invested in by the community (Figure 10).

Figure 10.

Return to the site with community leader: painted pallets, tires and wall (April 13, 2017), digital, Source: Author.

While monitoring we also gather opinions from the residents, who reported dissatisfaction with the quality of the pallets and the aesthetics of the furniture. As for the quality of the pallets, we did not have a positive response to provide. They are used because it is the material that we get through donations made by the entrepreneurs of the region. As for the degradation of the paint, we decided, given the speed with which it faded, to opt for paint that is more appropriate and resistant, although more limited in terms of color options: better one or two durable colors than many that are short-lived. However, regarding the design of the furniture, we were able to give a better return, creating furniture with pallets, but with a more traditional and more comfortable design, as was being requested.

The design of parklets, adapted for the first intervention, did not please residents who did not have the habit of seeing this kind of intervention in the city that, let's face it, corresponds to a typical design of the “creative class” to which these people do not identify with. The residents saw in it a different design from those already in the squares and parks of the upper-middle class neighborhoods of Porto Alegre, and the criticism came in the form of “they made poor furniture for poor people”, “more of the same”, etc.

Regarding the appropriation of space, we noticed that most of the furniture used by the adults and the elderly were those where they could watch people go by. But they also reported their discomfort with the furniture.

On the other hand, the furniture that was used in a dynamic way, such as the staircase spontaneously organized by the actors on the day of the intervention, was the simplest furniture, without previous project, and, nevertheless, it was most appreciated by the children, although sometimes also used by the elderly to practice exercises (Figures 11 and 12). There were no reports or observations of appropriation of space by local adolescents.

Figure 11.

Observation of activities—Use by adults and the elderly in the community (several days in 04/2017), digital. Source: Author and partnership.

Figure 12.

Use by the children of the community and verification of the linearity of space (several days between 04/2017 and 05/2017), digital. Source: Author.

Such results have allowed us to see the space as the population sees it: solely as a passage, which may eventually attract observers of the urban movement, such as people watching, provided that the furniture is designed and placed for this purpose. It cannot be designed as a public square, trying to create circular spaces that facilitate interaction between people of the same group. It is simply considered a linear space by those who are there. We then realized that although not voluntary, we had acted in a deterministic way trying to impose a use not desired by the locals.

Re-investing in space

As a result of the return of the community, we significantly changed the design of the furniture as well as our strategy of intervention with the site.

As for the pallet furniture, the experience of assembling them also showed us the limits regarding the use of materials and techniques, some of which were understood as dangerous due to the participation of children in the actions. We therefore asked the group of students who volunteered in the extension program to design projects with traditional urban furniture made with pallets and without, or almost without, nails, trying to create previously built subsystems in a fast and secure way. A period of a few weeks was delimited, culminating in an internal seminar of the team, where a proposal was made to be prototyped: the armchair pallets. Prototyping was followed within the college's own lab materials, as shown in Figures 13 and 14.

Figure 13.

Studies, projects and manuals for new furniture (several days in June 2017), digital. Source: Author.

Figure 14.

Prototyping of the chosen furniture (several days in June 2017), digital. Source: Author.

The proposal to create this furniture “in an atelier” was focused more on the learning process of college students, who also have as a professional scope the design of products and furniture. Therefore, we require an in-depth reference research, design proposals, a proposed furniture-manufacturing manual, and docking simulation, performed by fast 3D videos. At the same time, such a proposal intended to empower the community to “make your own furniture,” creating moments of action where this furniture will be assembled together with the community to others where workshops of subsystem construction will take place. We also intended to return to the space and reactivate it, using the next action to test the prototype of the armchair and see if the design was more appropriate to the aesthetics and comfort of the community.

The prototype was completed, although problems in the fittings appeared, being solved with a few nails and emphasizing the necessity of re-investment in the project. Due to the proximity of the date of the new action, we decided on this being the only furniture assembled in the next intervention.

As for the linearity of space, we decided to use other intervention strategies that would take into account the place of passage, but at the same time would put people in this place. Among many alternatives discussed, we decided to create linear play spaces for children. The problem of waste disposal was also discussed, and a meeting was organized with the PMPA staff who handled the waste in order to install onsite trash cans (there were none) and to schedule an environmental education exercise. At the same time, preparations began for the new action.

From the physical point of view, the new action counted on putting the furniture in a place that allowed visual interaction with those who pass, with the design and color of games on the ground, with the painting of the walls that delimit this passage, and with the installation of trash cans.

From the point of view of livelihood, the school children and adolescents of the Foundation Fé e Alegria, neighbors of the space, were invited to assist in the intervention, and we programmed game activities and environmental education, as given in Figures 15, 16 and 17. This time we achieved a greater adhesion of adolescents, who were protagonists of the “art” on the wall and who helped in organizing the activities with the little ones.

Figure 15.

Environmental education activity: (a) Organic snack brought by associations; (b) explanation of different types of waste; (c) placement of waste bins for sorting and use of these with their respective waste (several days in June 2017), digital. Source: Author.

Figure 16.

Preparation and painting of fun games on the sidewalk (several days in June 2017), digital. Source: Author.

Figure 17.

Preparation and painting of fun games on the sidewalk (several days in June 2017), digital. Source: Author.

As we were also aiming to test the new furniture, we installed the armchair pallets on the spot. This was immediately used by the children who were finalizing the action of painting and the ludic activities. The armchair was not fixed in place to protect it from theft (figure 18).

Figure 18.

Re-investing in space: (a) armchair installed; (b) and (c) preparation of the poll about the actions (June 22, 2017), digital. Source: Author.

The months of July and August involve the university recess of three weeks. The immediately preceding periods (work schedules, corrections, grades, etc.) and the beginning of the other term are usually overloaded for both university students and their teachers. Thus, in order to have feedback about the intervention, we opted for the “give your opinion” ballot, which we passed to the participants in the action and left one in each neighboring entity in order to minimize monitoring in the months to follow (figure 18).

Monitoring Action 2

We had little involvement with monitoring until the beginning of September, due to the period and its requirements, but also because of the climatic characteristics (this period is characterized by cold rainy days) and other schedules established for the beginning of the academic semester. Nevertheless, the few visits to the site included observing that there was garbage around, although very specific (remains of furniture), and the permanence of the pallet armchair (figures 19 and 20). Not only was it still there, but it was in good condition and had received a follow-up of planting of vegetation, which our partners informed was carried out by young people of the Fé e Alegria Foundation.

Figure 19.

Monitoring Action: (a) Armchair in good state; (b) paint on the ground worn; (c) general view of intervention (several days in September 2017), digital. Source: Author.

Figure 20.

Monitoring Action: General view of intervention (November 7, 2017), digital. Source: Author.

We noticed that, in general, the space was better taken care of—without high grass, without organic garbage—and it had not been vandalized. But it was empty and the paint on the ground had shown signs of major wear; we do not know if that was a result of time or lots of use. Resident reports said that it is common to see children playing there on sunny days. Such a report would require confirmation that we intend to obtain in the months that follow.

The group decided not to invest more in this place (other demands took place in the months that follow) and wait for an action from the community. The municipality developed some activities to animate the place, but the engagement of community declined gradually, and the group just observed the development or decline of this place.

Monitoring Action 3

For 1 year, we made innumerable visits to the place, but decided to not intervene anymore and wait for appropriation by the local community.

We perceived that the place was continuously used by the local people, and received maintenance from Municipal Urban Garbage Department and neighbors: they painted the remaining urban furniture and decorated the vegetation with old tires. New vegetation was planted. The drawings in the street were disappearing, but some organizational partners reported seeing children draw games on the ground with chalk.

The first result was that some trees have grown and are today consolidated, while others not yet (Figure 21). The day these photos were taken, the Municipal Environmental Service was cleaning the place and found some trash. Constant maintenance avoids a state of degradation, like other places in Porto Alegre and the world; where the maintenance services do not prevent degradation, it is more common to find garbage.

Figure 21.

Monitoring Action: General view of intervention 1 year after (February 6, 2019), digital, Source: Author.

While we were absent, some local associations or inhabitants appropriated this place and performed some maintenance and improvements (Figure 22). The dumpsters seem to be in good state of conservation, some graffiti was painted in local actions with the objective of reduce the garbage, and the place is less dangerous now, without drugs dealers.

Figure 22.

Monitoring Action: General view of intervention 1 year after (February 6, 2019), digital, Source: Author.

Discussions

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (2011) has directed great interest in the structuring of urban public spaces, in order to increase international awareness of the importance of public space for socialization and for urban health. Among the 22 Habitat III guidelines (2016), there are the following: (a) inclusive cities; (b) safer cities; (c) public space; (d) urban resilience; and (e) cities, climate change and disaster risk management. Our proposal of community work is linked to these five themes directly and indirectly.

We perceive public space as an area of inclusion. We believe that our actions serve to make cities safer by working in areas of concentration of crime, but also by integrating children and young people in socialization. This strategy is very important because they are more sensitive to act as feeders of traffic crimes in poor neighborhoods.

Our actions have also a strong bias in dealing with urban health problems caused by the presence of garbage, which in turn affects the disasters caused by the floods. Thus, we are interested in working on non-structural measures that may impact the urban drainage.

Our actions have a philanthropic bias, but are also educational. While we sensitize our students to the problems of needy communities, we prepare them to act as designers of the urban space and its furnishings. We also show the interconnections between public space, socialization, urban problems (floods), and urban health, preparing them for life in Brazilian cities.

But our experience is not perfect. We have still had many problems, both organizational in character and due to lack of availability of our students for the many actions.

The difficulty of integrating the residents more effectively in the actions is one of the biggest difficulties we have, and although we have advanced, we are still far from a real integration. In this regard, the Department of Urban Studies and Planning of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2013), in analyzing various American case studies, also identifies that significant community involvement remains a major challenge in many placemaking projects.

The study also identifies other problems, specific of Brazilian condition. The isolated creative class organizes in a day or in several “mutirões”,⁵ and normally starts this type of activity involving furniture constructions, remodeling and trying to meet the basic needs of local neighborhoods. However, the local inhabitants cannot participate integrally because they are working (and our partnership availabilities occur on workdays), or because they are unemployed, depressed, and do not believe anymore in the good development of the neighborhood. The participation of adults is minimal in these activities, and we need to find a strategy to invite more local inhabitants for these actions (maybe on the weekends) and use municipal services on workdays. For the unemployed people, the instability of political acts in Brazil accordingly raise mistrust and normally they observe the actions from a distance.

On the other hand, we identify the maintenance of this place by the Municipal Urban Garbage Department and Municipal Environmental Service (that we could observe in the last visit) as very positive. This involvement of municipality can show responsibility with local inhabitants and can, after a long period, improve trust in government. It is important to mention that before the intervention realized in March of 2017, the municipal services did not clean this place and this place was understood as a garbage deposit. Now it is an urban place, not very projected, not beautiful like the other parks localized in the rich neighborhoods of Porto Alegre, but integrated in local community activities. This condition gave us hope, because the local appropriation is not fast but is continuous.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

This work, relates to a process that is the result of combined work between professors and students of the School of Architecture and Urbanism of Porto Alegre Institute - IPA / Methodist University Center with the Sustainability and Citizenship Network (PMPOA, UN-Global Compact) and the Humaitá-Navegantes Entrepreneurs Association (AEHN). Thank you to all partnerships.

Author’s note

The author is now an associate member at UMR GRED.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Fernanda da Cruz MOSCARELLI

Notes

Author Biography

Fernanda da Cruz MOSCARELLI is an Urbanistic Architect, with a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning at Paul Valery-Montpellier University (GRED/UPV), a Post-Doctoral at the Urban Technology Center of UFRGS and a Post-PhD at IPPUR/UFRJ. Fernanda Moscarelli has expertise in the study of urban and regional projects and in urban requalification studies of informal and precarious settlements. She has 15 years of academic experience, such as research, extension projects, besides teaching.

References

Ackroyd

P. T.

(2007). Sacred river. Chatto & Windus. ISBN 10: 0701172843 / ISBN 13: 9780701172848

Alisdairi

L. K. A.

(2014). Cry and a demand: Tactical urbanism and the right to the city [Thesis of Master of Urban Planning, University of Washington], p. 65.

Apostolou

(2015). Urban eco-acupuncture methods: Case study in the city of Athens. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Changing Cities II: Spatial, Design, Landscape & Socio-economic Dimensions. Porto Heli, Peloponnese, Greece, June 22–26. https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01798506/

Augusto

L.G.

Gurgel

I. G. D.

Neto

H. F. C.

De Melo

C. H.

Costa

A. M.

(2012). The global and national context regarding the challenges involved in ensuring adequate access to water for human consumption. In Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, 17(6), 1511–1522. ISSN: 1413-8123.

Bitrán

R, U.

Giedion

Valenzuela

Monkkonen

(2005). Keeping healthy in an urban environment: public health challenges for the urban poor, In Fay

(Ed.), The urban poor in Latin America (pp.179–194). World Bank.

Briceño-Leon

(2005 Novembr–December). Urban violence and public health in Latin America: a sociological explanatory framework. Cadernos Saúde Pública, 21(6), 1629–1664. Rio de Janeiro.

Casagrande

(2013). Biourban acupuncture: From Treasure Hill of Taipei to Artena. International Society of Biourbanism. ISBN: 8890892315, 9788890892318.

Casagrande

(2014, November 20). Paracity: Urban Acupuncture [Paper presentation]. In Public Spaces Bratislava, International Conference, Bratislava.

Casagrande

(2015). From urban acupuncture to the third generation city. In La ville rebelle. Démocratiser le projet urbain. Gallimard. ISBN: 9782072619564

10.

Casanova

Hernàndez

(2014). Public space acupuncture. Strategies and interventions for activating city life. Actar Publishers.

11.

Da Silva

S. A

. (2013, May–August). Homeless Population in Rio de Janeiro: new times, old methods. Psicologia Política, 13(27), 337–350.

12.

Dal Bosco

M. G

. (2003, May–August). Democracia, direitos humanos e mínimo ético na América Latina. Novos Estudos Jurídicos, 8(2), pp.429–458.

13.

De Solà-Morales

. (2008). A matter of things. Nai Publishers.

14.

Demajorovic

Lima

(2013). Cadeia de reciclagem. Um olhar para os catadores. Edições SESC.

15.

Elrahma

(2016). Tactical urbanism: A pop-up local change for Cairo’s built environment. In Tactical Urbanism Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences (Vol. 216, pp. 224–235). Elsevier. ISSN: 1877-0428. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/18770428/53

16.

Franco

(1992). Porto Alegre: Guia Histórico (2nd ed). Universidade/UFRGS.

17.

Garland

Massoumi

Ruble

B. A.

Tulchin

J. S

. (2007, Summer/Fall). Poverty and the periphery: Cities in Latin America and the former Soviet Union. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, 8(2), 5–11.

18.

Lerner

(1937/2011). Urban Acupuncture. Rio de Janeiro: Record (online Edition). ISBN 978-85-01-09604-3.

19.

Lydon

Garcia

. (2015) Tactical urbanism: Short-term action for long-term change. The Streets Plans Collaborative, Inc. Island Press.

20.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2017). Department of urban studies and planning. Places in the making: How placemaking builds places and communities. https://dusp.mit.edu/sites/dusp.mit.edu/files/attachments/project/mit-dusp-places-in-the-making.pdf

21.

Rosado

R. M.

(2009, April). Na esteira do galpão: Catando leituras no território cotidiano da reciclagem do lixo em Porto Alegre [Tese de Doutorado]. UFRGS, Instituto de Geociências. Departamento de Geografia, Porto Alegre.

22.

Schaber

(2011) Absolute poverty human dignity, self-respect, and dependency (Chapter 11), In Kaufmann

Kuch

Neuhäuser

Webster

(Eds.), Humiliation, degradation, dehumanization: Human dignity violated (pp. 151–158). Springer.

23.

Shimakura

S. E.

Sá Carvalho

Aerts

D. R. G. C.

Flores

(2001, September–Octtober). Spatial risk distribution: modeling infant mortality in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Cadernos Saúde Pública 17(5), 1251–1261, Rio de Janeiro.

24.

Singh

A. R.

Singh

S. A.

(2008, January–December). Diseases of Poverty and Lifestyle, Well-Being and Human Development. Mens Sana Monography, 6(1), 187–225. doi: 10.4103/0973-1229.40567

25.

Souza

C. F.

Muller

D. M.

(1997). Porto Alegre e sua evolução urbana. Porto Alegre: Editora da Universidade, UFRGS.

26.

Steigleder

A. M.

(2017). O lugar dos catadores de resíduos no planejamento urbano de Porto Alegre, In Anais XVII ENANPUR: Desenvolvimento, crise e resistência: quais os caminhos do planejamento urbano e regional? São Paulo. http://anpur.org.br/xviienanpur/principal/publicacoes/XVII.ENANPUR_Anais/ST_Sessoes_Tematicas/ST%206/ST%206.9/ST%206.9-02.pdf

27.

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). (2011). Cities and climate change: Global report on human settlements. Earthscan: publishing for a sustainable future, London – Washington DC. ISBN 978-1-84971-370-2 (hardback) — ISBN 978-1-84971-371-9 (pbk.)

28.

Webb

(2018). Tactical urbanism: Delineating a critical praxis. Planning Theory & Practice, 19(1), 58–73, DOI: 10.1080/14649357.2017.1406130