“Como se fosse um grande lote vago da cidade”: possibilidades heterotópicas dentro do Parque Municipal Américo Renné Giannetti

Abstract

The transformations of organizational spaces, the different forms of use and disuse that occur over time, the complex social relationships that build these places and the social practices that aim to deviate or oppose the formal scope established there, together, can bring together sociocultural characteristics and economic ones that reveal the way in which certain social groups relate to each other and the networks of power that exist within them. In this thesis, we analyze the various factors and events that constituted the historical path of the Américo Renné Giannetti Municipal Park, located in Belo Horizonte/MG, as well as the cultural heritage of Belo Horizonte and Minas Gerais and which brings together diverse knowledge and power relations. In particular, as the object of study of this research, we delve into a debate surrounding the functional transformations that occurred in a certain area of the Park, initially occupied by its caretaker, demonstrating how the same space figures in different narratives during its constant existence, or even unfinished, reconstruction. We propose an analysis that incorporates, above all, the principles of Foucault's heterotopias (2013), also integrating, in a complementary way, the theoretical perspectives explored by Lefebvre (1974) and De Certeau (1974). Among the results, we corroborate that city planning can be observed from the set of heterotopic manifestations that constantly configure and overlap layers in the physical and social reality of social spaces. The countless transformations that occurred in the “conceived-perceived-experienced” triad, amid reactions to the “strategies” and “tactics” presented by individuals and organizations, corroborate the existence of tensions between different interests and forces in the same place (political , economic and social). The Park not only reflects power relations and the repercussions of public policies imposed there, but also enables subversions and a continuous process of reconfiguration. The concept of heterotopia, therefore, allows us to reflect on the reality of the social space formed by those who shaped the Park's history, considering the representation of places that emerge from interactions in society. The research field analyzed, therefore, transcends the physical space of interaction with people and their immediate environments, also addressing the heterotopic dimension that goes beyond the spatial limits of the study.