Banca de DEFESA: DIEGO FREIRE MARTINS

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : DIEGO FREIRE MARTINS
DATE: 29/11/2021
TIME: 15:00
LOCAL: Sala de reunião da plataforma Zoom
TITLE:

Between freedoms and restrictions: Experiences in urban mobility in children on the home-school-home routes in Quixadá, Ceará

KEY WORDS:

Active Mobility. Independent Mobility of Children. Urban experiences. Environmental
Perception. Citizenship.

PAGES: 236
BIG AREA: Ciências Sociais Aplicadas
AREA: Arquitetura e Urbanismo
SUBÁREA: Projeto de Arquitetura e Urbanismo
SPECIALTY: Planejamento e Projeto do Espaço Urbano
SUMMARY:

Children have a social role that is increasingly dependent on the adult, invisible in the decision-making
processes of public life, considered the citizen of the future and not of today, and confined in private
environments under the argument of safety and well-being. Their movements are dizzyingly more
motorized, rarely independent (without direct adult supervision) and experienced through glass on
“private islands”, in which the public space is just a passage. These relationships have directly impacted
their social, emotional, mental and spatial development. There are several studies and initiatives that
play a leading role in the child-city relationship and its displacements, however, there is a gap in research
outside the large urban centers in the Global South. Thus, the objective of this research was to

understand the child-city interactions in the light of urban mobility experiences in the home-school-
home routes in Quixadá/CE and their (dis)stimulations to active and independent transport. We

structured the methodological path in (1) literature review on active/independent mobility and urban
experiences as citizen possibilities (BARBOSA, 2016; SARMENTO, 2018; TONUCCI, 2005) through

environmental perception and affective relationships in the attachment to place as basis for an ethical-
political action-transformation in the city (GIULIANI, 2003; ITTELSON, 1978; LYNCH, 1982; TUAN, 2013).

Then, we developed an exploratory study with the (2) characterization of socio-physical aspects of the
paths through mapping, field observations and photographic records. Subsequently, (3) we applied
questionnaires with parents/guardians and conducted structured interviews and affective maps with
children aged 8 to 11 years in three public schools. The results showed that 73% of the participating
children traveled with active modes and 50% of the total had some experience of autonomous mobility.
Part of the adults proved resistant to active mobility and, even more, to independent travel due to long
distances, urban violence, fear of strangers, traffic and environmental comfort. The characteristics that
enhanced active and independent transport were urban permeability (network configurations, blocks);
diversity of land uses; urban legibility for the residents; presence of a neighborhood network; and
attribution of positive qualifications. Environmental knowledge was more solid and critical with a
functional, relational and symbolic links with the paths in children who adopted active mobility, while in
children with motorized mobility the link was only functional and less critical. Thus, we conclude that
the environments (social, built, family, transport and subjectivities) of Quixadá had more aspects that
favored the adoption of active/independent transport. This reality has provided opportunities for the
child's experience and development of bonds with the public space, building greater citizenship
potential. More than ever, if we aspire for more democratic and plural cities in difficult times like the
one we are facing, we need to amplify the city's educational potential, in addition to being necessary,
hope in childhood is also a possibility for resistance.

BANKING MEMBERS:
Presidente - 2306271 - VERONICA MARIA FERNANDES DE LIMA
Interna - 1149643 - GLEICE VIRGINIA MEDEIROS DE AZAMBUJA ELALI
Interna - 783.827.344-72 - NATALIA MIRANDA VIEIRA DE ARAUJO - UFPE
Externa à Instituição - GISELLE ARTEIRO NIELSEN AZEVEDO - UFRJ