Cuando la calle se transforma en casa: algunas consideraciones sobre habito et diligo en el medio urbano

Abstract

In this paper we present part of an ethnography, done in 1979, in which we analyze the articulation of two cases –the neighborhoods of Catumbi and Selva da Pedra , both in Rio de Janeiro– which are illustrative of a characteristic polarity of the brazilian cities, specially clear in metropolitan areas. One side of this polarity is constituted by the Iberian urban tradition that prevails in the architecture and urbanism of the oldest neighborhoods and suburbs. On the other side, we find the modernism models, those which tried to compensate their lack of historical cultural inertia with an extraordinary ideological aggressiveness deeply rooted in the progressive scientism –the most permanent legacy of our XIX century. Thus, the focus of our research was the appropriation of space, a process that takes part of the everyday experience.