TRANSFORMAÇÕES CULTURAIS E CONTRADIÇÕES URBANAS DO ESPAÇO PÚBLICO CONTEMPERÂNEO

Abstract

Once a product and reproducer of the dynamics that guide its time, cities are prone to change under a multitude of forces ranging from economic, political and social factors. In this context, under what conditions public space is produced? The contemporary city points towards an era of transition in which the relation of belonging (and/or experiencing) to the urban space (re)configures the production of public space – transformations that may lead not only to the instrumentalization of space but also to the reduction of its ‘public’ value. In this context, we investigate transversalities and tangencies to the contemporary public space, aiming at forms of appropriation that promote urban practices beyond its ‘regular’ limits, combining itself into new hybrid patterns (hybrid processes not only from the point of view of its production, but also from the point of view of its reception and continuous elaboration). In the urban environment of a society that “wants everything at all times”, we bring the hypothesis that contemporary urban ideologies are, in fact, progressively promoting simulacra of public spaces in the social construction of urban forms.