Barra da Tijuca territory:from the Sertão Carioca to the gated communities

Abstract

Part of the research Territory and territoriality: from the SERTÃO CARIOCA to the gated communities of Barra da Tijuca, this article is based on two condominiums in Rio de Janeiro's West Zone - Barra Sul e Pontões da Barra - located side by side in the Barra da Tijuca neighborhood, Rio de Janeiro. Initially, the first population formations in the researched territory were rescued, in order to deepen the social meanings that are constructed, as well as to verify the emerging social and cultural characteristics, including the organizational dynamics of the individuals who live there. This leads to the emphasis on the concept of space as intercessory and liable to be cross-passed by other definitions, which end up giving it different angles and meanings. The methodology is linked to the qualitative and participative research strand, oriented to thematic issues on social daily life in its cultural and identity unfoldings. To do this it was made a mapping of the potentialities of the studied places and of the users who live or pass through them, by means of the analysis of interviews, as a way to incorporate the subjective dimension to the spatial territory, in an approximation of the lived and built territories. Because it is a neighborhood planned to preserve public areas and maintain a uniform distance between constructions, Barra da Tijuca is looking to promote a lifestyle that promotes well-being and quality of life in the integration between Man and Nature. Its geography, with a large plain surrounded by sea, lagoons, and mountains, favored the construction of condominiums, shopping malls, and large traffic routes for the circulation of vehicles; however, the greatest particularity of this area is its diversification, uniting various social classes that live/circulate/study/work there. By having its history documented, including the peopling and geographical composition of the early 17th century, the area allows for research directed at the social and territorial composition.