Modo de vida, imaginário social e cotidiano

General consensus exists concerning the relevance of networks and space in poverty situations, despite a considerable dispute on the prominence of each element. While social-support and poverty debates highlight the joint importance of space and networks, the research agenda on contemporary communities suggests that networks have recently started replacing space in social integration. These debates mainly consider networks and ties normatively and are restricted to the global North, hampering the formulation of comparative interpretations and more theoretical conclusions. This article discusses the relationship between space, sociability and poverty, based on research results on networks of poor individuals in two major Brazilian metropolises — Salvador and São Paulo. Research indicates the existence of great heterogeneity in the networks of poor individuals, although with substantial differences, on average, to middle-class individuals. Certain types of networks and sociability are systematically associated with better living conditions, employment and income. Additionally, network mobilization by individuals presents important regularities associated with social mechanisms, understood as regular patterns that trigger or cause certain results. These mechanisms explain to a great extent the heterogeneity of networks, and mediate the individual's access to opportunities and everyday assistance. They therefore contribute decisively to the production (and reproduction) of urban poverty.

This article provides an ethnographic perspective on urban planning by presenting the creative practices of marginalized slum residents in Recife, Northeast Brazil, who are affected by planners’ decisions. It argues that such a perspective contributes to current critical urban theory in three ways. First, while many studies of urban planning follow the temporality of the timeframe of a particular project (‘project time’), this analysis emphasizes the timeframe of the lives of the affected residents (‘people's time’). Second, it attends to diversity, taking account of the variety of affected residents and the diverse consequences of urban planning on their lives. Third, it shows how urban interventions — similar to marriage, divorce, the birth of children and the death of loved ones — are high-impact life events for the urban poor. Finally, the article assesses the engagement between ethnography and critical urban theory and argues in favour of ‘grounding’ the latter better in the analysis of actual practices and experiences.

With this study we join the conversation on housing aspirations from a Brazilian perspective, which is marked by coexisting formal and informal markets, investigating how market- driven narratives and socioeconomic factors shape these aspirations across generations in urban areas. We surveyed middle-class individuals and applied exploratory factor analysis alongside intergenerational comparisons, and our findings reveal that, despite the growing prevalence of renting as a response to market constraints, homeownership persists as a predominant aspiration, particularly for long-term security. The concept of aspirational postponement emerges as a key framework, illustrating how temporary adaptations to renting do not supplant the enduring desire for property ownership. Moreover, this research introduces the experience effect, wherein older generations recognize the practical advantages of apartments over houses, based on lived housing arrangements, and the adjustment effect, which reflects the tempering of idealistic aspirations among younger generations owing to financial and practical constraints. By situating Brazilian housing dynamics within a global context, we highlight the interplay of structural inequalities, cultural norms and generational preferences to offer perspectivesfor housing policy frameworks in developing economies.

One of the new challenges globalization raises to urban management is the increasing number of international migrants moving to cities of developing countries and their impact on urban governance. Although there is growing perception that urban cultural diversity is a desirable outcome of globalization, most international migrants add to the low-income population and are particularly affected by urban exclusion. Furthermore, local governments in developing countries are seldom prepared to cope with the ad hoc policies needed to integrate people with different cultural, social and religious traditions into the urban society. Such policies should aim to encourage mobility and temporary vs. permanent migration, strengthen civic identity, deal with the cultural differences and the resulting discriminatory reactions from local residents, promote participation and representation, and fight the social and economic exclusion that often expose migrants to illegal activities contributing to raising urban violence.

This study investigated the mobility patterns of favela residents based on an analysis of their daily movements derived from high-frequency mobile phone data. Daily movements were measured considering the distance traveled at different times of day over the course of more than two months. Potential trip purposes for the most frequently visited locations were inferred based on land use data from property taxes. The high volume of geocoded data from mobile phones enabled the analysis during multiple days, also covering weekends, usually not considered in traditional transport surveys. The mobile phone data indicated that, on average, favela residents go farther from home during business days and perform less out of home activities during weekends when compared with non-favela residents. Further, distinct patterns for favelas and non-favela residents were mapped, considering different geographical areas, revealing space and time mobility inequalities.

O artigo explora as visões da cidade do Rio de Janeiro no início do século XX, presentes no romance de Lima Barreto e discute como a dinâmica da implantação da modernidade em contextos periféricos se processa tardiamente e de forma subalterna em relação às metrópoles, centros do capitalismo internacional.

O que é um líder na percepção de um líder? Esta é a questão que a autora enfrenta, utilizando um instrumento psicossocial e psicanalítico em bairros populares de João Pessoa. A partir deste marco teórico de análise é possível perceber que as identidades assinaladas não são similares, mas contrastantes. De fato, as entrevistas realizadas permitem registrar uma clara contradição entre a identidade do líder no espaço individual-familiar e no espaço social-coletivo em que o sujeito se encontra inserido. Por sua vez, esta contradição parece emergir como elemento novo no estudo das relações entre os movimentos sociais e políticas públicas.

Este texto reflete sobre a natureza das relações entre os jovens e a cidade, com um recorte que privilegia a esfera do consumo, dimensão essencial na construção identitária nesta etapa da vida. As reflexões partem de uma pesquisa feita em uma área específica do Distrito Federal, a cidade da Estrutural, uma das que compõem o espaço urbano da capital do País. Em se tratando de uma área pobre para os padrões locais, os jovens que ali moram são marcados por esta condição que, por um lado, deixa-os socialmente vulneráveis e, por outro, produz resistências que se manifestam no estilo de se comportar na vida cotidiana. Tem-se, neste caso, uma dupla determinação da posição social destes jovens: o local de moradia e as suas faixas etárias, ou seja, estigmatizados por um lado e vulneráveis pelo outro, criam uma forma de existência social particular, que nos auxiliam na compreensão dos vínculos sociais na cidade.