LUGAR E RESISTÊNCIA: a conformação de unidades de sentido no bairro do Pilar em Belo Horizonte – MG

Abstract

Located between two distinct administrative regions and compressed between the Serra do Curral and structures operated by mining activities, the neighborhood of Pilar has, since its emergence in the mid-1950s, been subjected to systematic exploitation by private interests linked to large-scale industry and mining. This is a territory scarcely studied in historiography, urban planning, or academic reflection, which contributes to its invisibilization, isolation, and the perpetuation of power dynamics and inequalities. Nevertheless, even under the constraints imposed by this process, the residents of Pilar bring with them possibilities of resisting the prevailing extractive model—a model that must not only be exposed and problematized but also confronted. Accordingly, this dissertation seeks to understand the neighborhood beyond the representation and abstraction of conventional urban approaches and diagnoses, moving toward a systematization of perception and meaning clusters shared by its population. These clusters, referred to here as “units of meaning,” aim to capture the specificities of lived everyday life by articulating its physical, social, and symbolic dimensions. Drawing on the concept of place as elaborated within humanistic geography, and grounded in narratives gathered through interviews, the research reveals how urban tensions affect both physical and perceived boundaries, reconfiguring the territory and shaping the strategies of resistance employed by residents in response to the ongoing dynamics of urban transformation.