Lazer e comuns urbanos: potencialidades para apropriação de espaços públicos na cidade

Abstract

In the cities, the hegemonic linkage of leisure to the market and consumption sphere, as well as to the production of spaces that reaffirm the neoliberal logic in their experiences, have limited the potential of the social and political dimensions of leisure, especially in its relationship with public spaces. In this scenario, it is essential to think about other rationalities and forms for the appropriation of public spaces through leisure, in a way that reaffirms its status as a social right and emphasizes its connection with the sphere of social reproduction as a human necessity presents in everyday life. Based on the recognition of the political dimension of leisure practices and their understanding as a socio-spatial practice that transforms space based on different logics of commodification, the thesis aims to analyze the role that leisure can play in the appropriation of public spaces for the production of urban commons. Alternative experiences in the production of space based on the theory of the common and urban commons has taken to the emergence of new rationalities, subjectivities, practices and instituting processes, which encourage the realization of the right to the city and promote a new citizenship in urban areas, especially in public spaces. The dynamics linked to the common involve sharing resources, practices and create communities through “commoning” for its production. In urban areas, this can contribute to the emergence of new forms of mobilization, political participation and appropriation of public spaces, giving new meaning to some social struggles, including in the field of leisure. Thus, the thesis is constituted through theoretical research that relates concepts and categories in the fields of leisure, space and the common, articulating them with the production of urban space. The result of the dialogue between these different dimensions is the opening of a new perspective for an approach to leisure in the city, based on different forms of social and political appropriation of public spaces as urban commons, which take place and, fundamentally, expand to create more democratic real spatial arrangements, in a continuous process of expanding social life in common. It is concluded that leisure, when understood as a practical resource of “commoning” in the appropriation of public space, can play an important role in sharing this common resource, as well as strengthening the communities bonds involved and the political participation, favoring the production process of urban commons.