Occupations of public spaces in Montes Claros/MG as a fight against urban illiteracy

Abstract

Despite its productive basis, the city is not a self-taught experience, but requires its own pedagogy so that it can be fully lived and interpreted in a critical and political way. Therefore, proposing tactical and educational itineraries in favor of literacy to understand the urban environment is fundamental to training contemporary and future generations to fully experience the city, based on its emancipatory creation. The circuit entitled “OH!CUPA” was proposed within the scope of the Architecture and Urbanism course at Centro Universitário Unifipmoc, in Montes Claros/MG, in 2022, as an integrated teaching, research and extension activity. The action developed, ranging from its initiation in the classroom to the carrying out of the actions in the square, sought to raise awareness among students about the relationships between professional practice, the intentions of urban planning, class struggles and the production of space. These reflections were contextualized with urban transformation processes and mainly with the social and democratic role of the square, which essentially consists of a public space intended for leisure and sociability. By applying this discussion among undergraduate students and executing their leisure occupation plans, in a public square, within the reach of a broad and diverse public, it proved to be a strategy to provoke critical stances on the development of cities, especially in a city that acts as a hub of regional influence in the North of Minas Gerais.

Keywords: urban illiteracy; university education; public space.