June journeys: the aesthetic and political dimensions of the urban space

• Grant number: 14/21735-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2015
• End date: July 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning
• Principal Investigator: Ana Cláudia Castilho Barone
• Grantee: Alina da Porciúncula Paias
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The research proposed encompasses the study of relations of appropriation and attribution of meaning to the public spaces occupied by the people during the demonstrations that took place in the city of São Paulo during the June Journeys of 2013. The goal is to understand some of the fundamental factors that contributed to the choice of specific urban spaces at the time of defining the trajectory of the masses during the demonstrations, which relates to symbolic contents and the collective attribution of meaning that takes and took place in those spaces during the events studied. The intention is to apprehend the meaning of choosing certain places of the city by the demonstrators through the analysis of their aesthetic and political contents. At the time of the events, the choice on the destinations of the mobilized masses was simultaneous to the occupation itself, being done by real time interactions, through cellphones, Whatsapp, Facebook and other contemporary communication technology resources. This study situates itself at the intersection between the aesthetic and political meanings of the demonstration, here represented by the relevance attributed by the collectivity to the urban public spaces that were chosen to be occupied. This study is believed to contribute to the understanding of the symbolic contents of urban public spaces, as the reflection on those aspects aids the understanding of the elected spaces in their meaning as public as well.