The use of Social Cartography to think housing policies for cities: an experience with the community of Viçoso Jardim (Niterói - RJ)
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Alves, S.L.P.; 2Ferreira, T.S.F.; 3Menezes, P.M.L.
1UFRJ Email: saralemos.alves@gmail.com
2UFRJ Email: tatidesa@hotmail.com
3UFRJ Email: pmenezes@ufrj.br
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to study how the participatory mapping and the Social Mapping technique can help in thinking and execute the city. The city, created and recreated by various agents, constantly suffers major planned changes, such as redevelopment works, and other sudden changes as natural disasters, which often happen in large cities - landslides or floods, which victimize mainly the most vulnerable social classes. This work proposes the use of the methodology of mental maps as a strategy for political relocation of people affected by natural disasters. Often these actions, which involves the construction of popular houses, do not take into account the experience and the relationship with the place and the construction of lived space made during the long time when some people live in a certain place, sending them to areas far away from where they lived, leaving ties and relationships with the group. This can create greater difficulty in adapting and beginning of life for these people. The idea is that, from the perspective of residents, policies can be created in a participative way. The map can serve as a rescuer of the idea of place, the lived space and also their memories, which are related to the way the individual perceives and lives a particular space, making possible the rescue of common social markers of the group. This can generate a more efficient and less painful housing and relocation policy to these residents. To illustrate the use of the methodology, a case study of the Morro do Bumba landslide which killed about 50 people and left dozens of families homeless will be presented. Will be considered a form of relocation policies, the solutions found by the government to these families, making a comparison with the results obtained from participatory mapping workshops with the construction of mental maps and interviews with the group, checking if the methodology indeed would be useful in cases similar to this. Finally, verify how mapping can be, in fact, social.
Keywords
Social Cartography; Participatory Mapping ; Mental Maps