The survival of the rural properties (chácaras) in the urban imagination of the city of São Paulo and their imagery

• Grant number: 24/23357-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Architecture and Urbanism Technology
• Principal Investigator: Artur Simões Rozestraten
• Grantee: Ruth Cuiá Troncarelli
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The research is based on the conceptual foundation of "survival," derived from Edward B. Tylor (1832-1917) and explored by Aby Warburg (1866-1929), aiming to recognize these "vestiges" and spaces of permanence in the contemporary city, , searching for the "surviving" thread of the phenomenon related to the rural properties (chácaras), in order to understand the configuration of São Paulo's urban landscape and its imaginary.Therefore, this work addresses the phenomenon of « chácaras » in the city of São Paulo and the questioning analysis of their imagery, understood as reproductions of visible and imagined realities, an important tool for understanding the transformation and formation of the city, especially with regard to the transition from the 19th to the 20th century.Through the study of their representations, composed of an iconographic set (maps, photographs, drawings, paintings, for example), which make up one of the facets of the city's "urban imaginaries," combined with historical and bibliographic accounts and descriptions, the goal is to understand what these spaces were in the city and how the transformations in the territory took place from their constitution. The research aims to uncover the actors involved in the presented phenomenon, the characteristics captured in this landscape, and the related perspectives in the philosophical, sociological, historical, anthropological, and imaginary realms.In view of this, the research proposes the identification of the "survivals" related to the phenomenon of « chácaras » in São Paulo, highlighting the gaps in the city's history, as well as an attempt to approach these "farm fragments," which carry tensions and are situated on the threshold between a rupture in the imaginary of the rural city and the desire for the urban. (AU)