Copresence and interaction in public open spaces in Arapiraca, Alagoas

the restriction of contact among members of different social groups

Abstract

The generation of contacts between people from different social groups is one of the main contributions of public spaces to life in society and to the mediation of differences. However, studies on socio-spatial segregation have focused primarily on the effects of residential location in restricting contact between members of different social groups, while studies on the potential of public spaces such as squares to stimulate or hinder these contacts are less numerous. Furthermore, works that pursue the latter tend to be from contexts outside of Brazil and focus on racial and ethnic rather than socioeconomic segregation. In this work, we analyze two town squares in Arapiraca, Alagoas, through in-depth interviews, to understand how contacts between members of different social groups happen and, especially, how and why they are restricted or avoided. The results show three categories of reasons for contact restriction: those that occur due to morphological attributes, socioeconomic attributes and individual attributes. From a better understanding of these causes, we can devise public policies, in different domains, that allow us to promote spaces that stimulate the copresence and interaction of people from different socioeconomic groups.