CREATIVE CITY AND CHILDHOOD: THE DYNAMICS OF PARKS AND PUBLIC EQUIPMENT WITH GREAT CIRCULATION OF CHILDREN IN NATAL-RN.
Contemporary City, Creative City. Natal/RN. Public Space. Creativity. Childhood.
In theCreative City, creativity starts tobevalued, havinginthiselementanimportantresourceregardingthesustainabilityof cities. Thus, animportantconcept in thismodelofcity, referstothecreative social environment, wherespaces are set as environmentsrich in diversityandculture, asidefromtheopeningto new ideasandthepromotionofsocializationandleisure. Alongtheselines, it isnecessarytothinkoftheseplaces in orderto embrace theentirepopulation, especiallychildren. Children, as subjectsoflawandproducersofculture, evenif in thestageofdevelopment, accesspublicparksandequipment as anoptionofleisureandsocialization, expressingthemselvesthrough play and games. Basedontheseconsiderations, andthrough a qualitative approach in whichanethnographicstudyhasbeensupported, making use ofseveralinstrumentssuch as observation, oral reports, photographyandalso as a complementarymethod, interview. Thisstudy'sresearchscopewas, the Parque Estadual Dunas do Natal Jornalista Luiz Maria Alves (Parque das Dunas), the Parque Cidade da Criança andthe Espaço Cultural Francisco das Chagas Bezerra de Araújo (Área de Lazer do Panatis), aimingtoreflectonsuchspacesandtheirrelationwithregardtosocialization, leisureandcreativityofthechildren in thecityof Natal-RN, seekingtounderstandtheir social and cultural relevance in thecontextofcontemporary cities. Thisway, theinteractionsestablishedbythechildrenwereobserved, whetherbetweenthemembersoftheirownfamilyorwithothersubjects, visitorsoftheresearchedplaces, as well as thetypesof games, use oftoysandparticipation in theproposedactivities. Wealsoanalyzedthe oral reportsoffamilies, as well as thetypesofpublic policies offered. As a result, we noticedthat in allthreeenvironmentsthe games are notrestrictedtothe use ofdesignedtoys, in fact, theyreceive a new meaningfromthechildren, creating new functionalities, eitherbythelackofequipmentmaintenance, orevenbytheinexistenceofthetoys. Wealsoobservedthatthesocializationofthechildrenhappensspontaneously, motivatedbythe games, despiteinteractionsnotalwaysbeingencouraged. As for the cultural, leisureandsportsoffer, thereis no continuitypolicyregardingthedemandsofchildhood, eventhough Parque das Dunas maintainsprojects in private-publicpartnerships, whileactivities in theotherspacessurveyedhappensporadically, ornotevenoccur in some places.