A beleza da fartura na região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte

Abstract

Even though urbanization, verticalization, soil compaction and waterproofing are dominant trends, the desire to grow and care for plants persists and reinvents itself in backyards, raised beds, vegetable gardens, terraces and other small spaces in the cities and outskirts of the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte (RMBH). For their dedicated gardeners, plants create the meaning of inhabiting a place and thus mark the urban and peri-urban landscape with the beauty of plenty. In this context, this thesis seeks to highlight stories, practices and knowledge that encourage life and its recovery alongside gardeners of small spaces in the urban and peri-urban context of RMBH who, in common, cultivate the land and the beings that live in it with passionate attention and care. Without losing sight of the relevance of the productive issue privileged by public policies aimed at urban and peri-urban agriculture with an agroecological basis, and in dialogue with anthropology and other areas of knowledge, I seek to present different dimensions associated with the theme and reiterate the fortunes and abundance possible in small spaces where plants are cultivated, cared for and harvested, with emphasis on those that combine a variety of species and that perpetuate a way of existing in community. Marked by the Covid 19 pandemic, this thesis was produced from a heterogeneous set of experiences, temporalities and bibliographies. It combined prolonged attention to the topic, related to my personal and professional trajectory, with field activities in 2022 and early 2023 with caregivers of small spaces located in the urban and peri-urban context of the RMBH, recognized on a local and/or regional scale for their agricultural practices and knowledge. In general, small spaces cared for on a personal and daily basis are perceived by their gardeners as extensions of themselves and are refuges for a variety of plants and other beings. Its activities mobilize knowledge and creativity with attention to the multiple relationships woven between people and plants, between plants, between them and other beings; they take pleasure in planting and caring, in feeling the plants, in creating stories with them, in bringing together “um pouco de tudo” (a little bit of everything) in their collections and in donating part of what the earth gives to nourish their communities and networks of relationships. By relating to the land and plants with intimacy, patience and dedication, they promote the beauty of abundance and the production of biodiverse landscapes. Agroecological-based urban and peri-urban agriculture combined with popular agrarian reform, access to housing, repeasantization process, urban and metropolitan planning can capture the desire to plant that still persists to design biodiverse landscapes, collaborate with the organization of abundance and offer remuneration fair to the gardeners and caretakers of the earth. Furthermore, they can reinforce beauties disconnected from the standardization of industrial agriculture and expand the repertoire of what excites. In contrast to the catastrophes, monocultures and extractivism of our time, this thesis defends food and reiterates the aesthetic and creative potential that agricultural knowledge and practices related to diversity, generosity and solidarity offer for the construction of livable worlds.