The space, the drama: public life and urban scenes in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

In the following paragraphs I will discuss, in the light of episodes of the history of the Territory and Citizenship Research Group, the content of the book Formas de la Sociabilidad. Una geografía de los espacios públicos en Río de Janeiro published in 2019 by Paulo Cesar da Costa Gomes and Leticia Parente Ribeiro, both professors at the Federal Universities of Rio de Janeiro and coordinators of that research group. This text was born, in part, as an answer to the following question: how the concepts and methodological procedures collected in the book were developed? The history of a book, according to the hypothesis that guides this work, is intricate with the history of a series of studies that preceded it. Therefore, to answer the research question, and in allusion to the divisions of a play, the text presents in three acts the progressive change in the themes and research strategies of the members of the Territory and Citizenship Research Group over two decades, with emphasis on the scientific production of Paulo Cesar da Costa Gomes, its longest-lived coordinator. Meanwhile, the last act contains a characterization of the chapters of Formas de la Sociabilidad which, in general, compounds a broad project for the geographical knowledge of public spaces.