E se esse parque fosse nosso? Crianças e participação em um parque urbano na zona norte carioca

Abstract

The constant social changes and the expansion of recognition, over the years, through legal means, of children as subjects of rights and social actors, presuppose greater action and transformation of childhoods in society, in addition to leading us to reflect on their interests and their actions in public spaces in cities. The research is based on the field of Childhood Studies, mainly on the Sociology of Childhood and the Geography of Childhood, and aims to understand how children appropriate Parque Recanto do Trovador, located in the neighborhood of Vila Isabel, in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro. January. How do children use this space? What childhood concepts can we perceive in a public park? Such issues are relevant as the park is part of the region's green infrastructure, contributing to its sustainability, integral development and children's well-being. The park also has important historical value for the city, as it housed the country's first zoo in the 19th century. The interest in the topic is justified to ensure that the forms of participation and the rights of children, legally achieved, are reaffirmed and expanded, this being the duty of all sectors of society. The park was chosen due to its proximity to the institution where she worked as an Early Childhood Education teacher, in the municipal network of Rio de Janeiro, as well as the fact that it is frequented by families and children from the surrounding community called Morro dos Macacos. The study has an ethnographic character and was carried out through participant observation and conversation with children, which took place throughout 2023 and the first half of 2024, seeking to understand both the children's actions and the organization and structure of the park. for childhood based on three concepts: containment territory, childhood landscapes and the right to space. It was found that the park has containment territories, spaces and equipment dedicated to children, which, however, were given new meanings by them, who created their childhood landscapes, thus expanding the debate about their rights to space. One of the devices present in the containment space and which became a childhood landscape was the swing, the most mentioned, desired and used by them, who complained about an increase in the number of them in the park. The appropriation of spaces by children occurred through games between peers or with adults, who are generally their family members, and using toys brought by them or artifacts from the park itself. Most of the children were accompanied by women – mothers, aunts, caregivers or cousins –, which revealed how, in contemporary times, care actions are still linked to the female gender. It was also found that neighboring children frequented the park alone or accompanied by other children. Thus, the study highlights how childhood and children are in this park and seeks to reaffirm their right to the city.