A produção do espaço urbano a partir das práticas de consumo da classe média de Juiz de Fora-MG: uma aproximação com o shopping center

Abstract

This work aims to analyze the interconnection between social class and urban space, focusing on the realm of consumption, using the city of Juiz de Fora as a study context. The research investigates the formation and ascent of the Brazilian middle class, exploring how their habits and consumption patterns influence their identification within the social structure. The study highlights the phase of entry of a new segment of individuals into the Brazilian middle class in the early 2000s, during a period of economic growth in the country. In the face of this change in social structure, space also undergoes significant transformations. Shopping Center developments emerge to cater to potential consumers, accompanied by consequent urban reordering. The focus of this research is the Independência Shopping in Juiz de Fora, which arises in this context and will be the locus of our analysis. The rise of new members to the middle class, along with the proliferation of consumption spaces aimed at this new demand, drives changes in the habits of these individuals and results in reconfigurations of spaces within the city. This illustrates one of the ways in which the issue of class operates in space, as this spatial reclassification benefits some groups at the expense of others. This characteristic can be observed in the development of this research through fieldwork with data collection and surveys. Therefore, this work addresses one fact of the class struggle in urban space, with a focus on the middle class and the consumption space of the Independência Shopping in the city of Juiz de Fora.