Abstract

JORGE, Sílvia  and  CAROLINO, Júlia. A place in the making: The case of Cova da Moura. Forum Sociológico [online]. 2019, n.34, pp.19-30.  Epub Aug 04, 2021. ISSN 0872-8380.  https://doi.org/10.4000/sociologico.4980.

Following the settlement and construction without permit on public and/or private land, self-produced neighbourhoods tend to be portrayed in ways that reduce them to their problems and are expressed through designations like “slums” or “precarious settlements”. These negative designations play a role in the way professionals and decision makers make sense of these territories, favouring demolitions of the existing urban tissue as solutions for realities that fail to match the hegemonic image and parameters of the city. Taking bairro da Cova da Moura as a case study, we draw on the notions of “place” and “the right to place” to explore and relate different understanding and perceptions of that territory. We resource on anthropological and on socio-urban perspectives for looking through both the local dynamics and aspirations and the policies and tools for intervention proposed over the long term. Taking into account the existence of a plural and negotiated local reality, a new socio-political perspective, inscribed on the fight for the right to place here in highlighted.

Keywords : production of place; right to the place; Cova da Moura.

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