Parque Municipal Flamboyant: apropriação e usos para lazer

Abstract

Public parks are important places for leisure in big cities. Despite the large number of parks in Goiania, the most structured are located in central areas, which difficults the population access to this type of public facility. The Flamboyant Park is among the most structured in the city, becoming a leisure alternative for a portion of the population. To understand how the appropriation process has occurred as well as its use for leisure activities, it was necessary to perform a theoretical review about leisure, to verify how the park implementation has occurred, which are its characteristics and the various recreational uses identified during the field research. An analysis of form and content of the Park and of the profile, use and perceptions of the respondents allowed uncovering a little more about the social and political dynamics that shape and permeate the city of Goiania. Under the assumption that shape reveals contents, the landscape analysis has revealed current ideologies and contradictions in the city. The fact that the park has a superior structure compared to parks located in peripheral districts demonstrates the investment from public authorities aiming to meet the interests of property market agents. As to the ownership of this public space, the research has revealed that the regular goers, the ones who in fact appropriate the park, are the ones who live nearby, or who possess individual means of transportation capable of providing quick access to the location. Therefore, a large part of the population is excluded from this ownership, as they never go to the park or only seldom visit it. Despite this segregating character, the park contributes to a life quality improvement and increases sociability of a large part of the goianiense population, which can be observed by the several leisure practices identified in this space. The difference between programmed behavior and transgressing behavior stands out among these activities, which demonstrates the richness and complexity of meanings a space can reveal.