Canaan: a new promised land offered by the guarded condominiums of Marília - SP

• Grant number: 08/10834-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): June 01, 2009
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2009
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Luís Antônio Francisco de Souza
• Grantee: Naiara Conservani Schmidt
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências (FFC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Marília. Marília , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In the big and medium cities in the world one can observe a new form of organization in the urban space. This new configuration shows within it's characteristics the strong presence of closed horizontal and vertical condominiums. The presence of this type of construction in Brazilian cities is growing steadily every year, and the sector of real estate’s makes increasing investments in this area. Their advertisements can easily be found all over the big and medium cities of Brazil, praising a serene and comfortable life, where the risks and unforeseen events of the contemporary world can be left outside the walls whenever the resident wishes to do so. Seeing this new urban processes, this research shows through analyses of advertisement published in Marília - a city in the east of the state of São Paulo - as well as it's social appearance and urban form, how this factors are related with the diffusion of such fortified enclaves in a relatively young municipality - as is the case of Marília. In this manner, this paper goes back to the question about the perception of the risk for residents of closed communities and in relation to the fear of the emergency of a new lifestyle for these individuals, hungered by the question of safety and in search for greater freedom outside of the urban cities and from the conventional forms of residency. (AU)