Vitalidade urbana nas praças de Juiz de Fora: um estudo exploratório

Abstract

This paper is an exploratory and descriptive study about elements that compose the urban vitality of the squares using as a case study the city of Juiz de Fora. On the one hand, the good performance of a square, in terms of vitality, is characterized by the presence of people enjoying a space of quality, that means, spaces that provide an opportunity for leisure, socializing and outdoor refuge in the urban network. On the other hand, a square without vitality can be distinguished by insecurity and often-unhealthy spaces that consolidate amidst significant areas of the city's neighborhoods. In order to ascertain the vitality of the squares in Juiz de Fora, it was necessary, firstly, to define what is the concept of squares in the context of the city, once it was noticed that many of the Free Public Spaces named as square by the city hall do not represent the definitions of square found in the literature of the area. Furthermore, a squad investigation protocol that addresses both the presence of people and the physical characteristics of the area was developed. Part of the data collected was selected for the configuration of seven categories of analysis: public user, noise, accessibility, surroundings, security, seating and activity areas. As results, it can be seen that the public user presented is an average of 0.007 people per m2, with the majority of adults and gender variation. The presence of dogs was found in 11% of the squares evaluated. The squares do not have an acoustic comfort as indicated by the NBR 10151. No square was found totally accessible according to the specifications of the NBR 90-50. It was found in 62% of the surroundings of the squares a predominantly residential use. In the category of security, the presence of active surveillance only appeared in 0.09% of the evaluated places, with most of the squares classified as poor in the passive surveillance issues. When the approach was safety as a safe environment for health, the evaluated squares presented, mostly, with little interference of graffiti and signs of abandonment, with good state of conservation of the areas of activities, therefor. The seats did not present themselves as satisfactory in the criterion adopted. The activities areas presented themselves with a good diversity. In this way, this study constitutes a double contribution. One is directly related to the field of studies on the vitality of urban squares as far as it provides data on the subject in a relevant scale (84% of the total squares of a mean city). Another contribution is the survey of the conditions of the squares for the city of Juiz de Fora that configures as an unpublished database. It should be emphasized that the data collected in this research can be used for more in-depth correlational and longitudinal studies, both in this field of research and in other tangential fields.