Tensões e articulações na criação de espaços públicos: a construção da ideia do Parque Theodoro Sampaio, em Mata Escura, Salvador-BA

Abstract

The research object of this dissertation is the actions and practices that build the idea of Theodoro Sampaio Park, in the Mata Escura neighborhood, on the periphery of Salvador. The diverse, heterogeneous and diffuse initiatives that make up the “sociotechnical network” (LATOUR, 1994), established from the tensions and articulations generated in the processes of appropriation and interaction in space, are analyzed. A timeline is drawn up to demonstrate the historical accumulation in the territory that contains this green area of 85 hectares, a remnant of the Atlantic Forest, an old area of settlement and natural reserves, currently surrounded by peripheral neighborhoods, characterized by the context of scarcity of urban attributes. It seeks to understand the urban processes related to the creation of urban parks in Brazil and in the city of Salvador. For the territory in question, the natural agents are considered, as well as the various social agents according to the actions and practices related to this green area, addressing the conflicting context between the natural environment and excluding urbanization. In the midst of tensions and articulations, the idea of Theodoro Sampaio Park has been provoked from institutional and popular actions, both internal and external, in recent decades. In this movement, it is understood that the conquest of this peripheral urban park as a “space made public” (QUEIROGA, 2006) has been boosted, with potential actions for the appropriation of this public space and greater insertion in the public sphere, understood as a locus of decisions collective decisions taken from dialogue, conflicts, agreements and the plurality of social agents (AREDNT, 2007). By observing such processes interactively, it seeks to understand the weaknesses and potentialities contained within the scope of these relationships. The perspective is to bring contributions to think about the processes of appropriation of public spaces on the periphery of contemporary cities, conquered from popular initiatives and guided by the preservation of the common good, collective urbanity and socio-environmental valorization.