Localizando o espaço público: Gentrification e cultura urbana*

Abstract

ROGÉRIO PROENÇA LEITE Localizando o espaço público: Gentrification e cultura urbana * * Uma versão mais longa e desenvolvida do argumento apresentado aqui pode ser encontrada em Leite (2007).

Cities and Gentrification in Contemporary Brazil

“…In saying this, I do not mean to imply that no identity-forming processes occur in gentrified spaces. As I was able to explore in earlier works (Leite, 2008(Leite, , 2010, gentrification processes are not incompatible with the formation of identity places, which continue to exist by means of a complex socio spatial demarcation that acquires meaning through the structuring of public spaces. On this point, it is worth recalling that identities are not pregiven but elaborated on an everyday basis in the course of political interactions.…”

“…At this point I wish to return to an earlier analysis (Leite, 2007(Leite, , 2008 of cultural consumption in which I highlighted two dimensions of consumption present in this context of gentrification: the first refers to the properly economic dimension of exchange, relating to the appropriation of commodities and defined by the financial possibilities for accessing the products and services available on the market. The second dimension refers to the cultural meanings of the symbolic act of consumption, conceived as a social practice that differentiates tastes and lifestyles, and demarcates social relations, as Featherstone emphasizes:…”

Ressignificar para renovar : Novos usos, representações e resistências na Praça Sete, Belo Horizonte

“…As parcerias entre o poder público e a iniciativa privada se utilizaram do patrimônio local para transformar a referida porção do centro histórico em um local de lazer e consumo cultural, seguindo o denominado marketing urbano, também visto em outras políticas de preservação patrimonial no Brasil (Leite, 2008). O patrimônio é, dessa forma, convertido em mercadoria cultural em prol do entretenimento, do consumo e do turismo, sendo capaz de atrair pessoas e capital através da nova paisagem urbana.…”

Mercado Novo: um Edifício “Fora do Lugar” em Belo Horizonte

“…These relations are configured both between subjects and between them and nature, so that this interactive process forms a unique network of meanings (cultural, emotional and social) and identities (individual or collective) (CASTROGIOVANNI, 2007(CASTROGIOVANNI, , 2013STEPHENSON, 2010). However, despite being only a part of the whole, the place, due to its density and social interactivity, can be studied as representative of the whole (LEITE, 2008;ANDRADE; BAPTISTA, 2015).…”