Public spaces and consumption: the impacts of the economic logic on the urban space production and its implications for the \revitalization design\ of the central urban area of Presidente Prudente/SP.

Author(s)

Barbara Pozza Scudeller

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Carlos.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC/SBD)
• Defense date: 2021-12-13

Examining board members

Manoel Antonio Lopes Rodrigues Alves; Glauco Bienenstein; Maria Encarnação Beltrão Spósito; Jeferson Cristiano Tavares

• Advisor: Manoel Antonio Lopes Rodrigues Alves

Abstract

New projects were launched for free public spaces in the central area of Presidente Prudente/SP throughout 2010. The first of them was the new project for the Calçadão da Rua Tenente Nicolau Maffei, in 2011. A few years later, in 2013, it was a new project was also launched for Praça 9 de Julho, close to one of the ends of that Calçadão. At the end of the 2010s, improvements were made in a part of Praça da Bandeira, which was followed by the construction of a new project for the Camelódromo, located in that square. In research prior to this work, a direct relationship was observed between the launch of new projects for chain stores located in the downtown of Presidente Prudente/SP and the change in the consumption profile of the low-income classes. These establishments, such as Magazine Torra Torra and Lojas Pernambucanas, made changes to their internal layout in order to simulate a more sophisticated consumption environment, aimed at the middle and upper classes. At the same time, public policies to increase access to credit and reduce income inequalities were implemented nationwide during the Lula government (2003-2010). These policies not only changed the consumption pattern of the Brazilian popular segments what is bought but also changed the consumption profile of these classes how they buy. So that these popular segments started to experience not only the possibility of consuming new products, but also the spaces where these products are marketed. Simultaneously, the observation of changes in these private spaces located in the downtown of Presidente Prudente/SP, changes in public spaces in these same locations were also observed. In this case, the aforementioned revitalization projects carried out throughout 2010 at this downtown. The problem that this research sought to clarify was to investigate the possible relationships between public policies to expand access to consumption and the launch of new projects for public spaces in the downtown of Presidente Prudente/SP, which support these practices. For this, the case study methodology was used, considering that the variables involved in these processes of spatial transformation could not be detached from their urban contexts. As methodological procedures, the following were carried out: 1. documentary surveys in the Museu and Histórico Archive of Presidente Prudente, in the City Hall and in the local press organs; 2. interviews with public and private agents involved in these new projects and; 3. exploratory field work, which also included the application of questionnaires to users in the central area of Presidente Prudente/SP. As a result of this research, it was possible to verify that several factors led to the realization of these new projects. Contrary to what was initially assumed, there was no direct relationship between public policies to minimize income inequalities and new projects for public spaces in the downtown. What happened was a favorable contextual relationship between the emergence of a new consumption profile and the City Hall initiative. As can be seen in this dissertation, physical, social, economic, political and symbolic factors specific to this case study also contributed to the execution of these new projects for the Presidente Prudente/SP downtown. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 18/17476-1 - Public spaces and consumption: the impacts of the economic logic on the urban space production and its implications for the "revitalization design" of the central urban area of Presidente Prudente/SP
• Grantee: Bárbara Pozza Scudeller
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master