Urban Housing and Sustainability

Authors

  • Teresinha Maria Gonçalves Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense

Abstract

This article is a report and comment on two researches conducted by the author herself in two districts of the city of Criciúma-SC, southern Brazil, from the environmental psychology perspective. The first one was on the process of appropriation of space by means of living and inhabiting the place, carried out from 2002 to 2006, and the second one deals with sidewalks as city of Criciúma-SC's public spaces, carried out in 2007. The objectives were to investigate the process of living and inhabiting, and the appropriation of sidewalks as public spaces. The researches were qualitative and based on case studies. The samples came from 10 residents from each neighborhood and they were chosen for the interviews based on time of living in the area criterion. The representativeness of the sample is not given by statistical data but by the methodological rigor and depth of analysis. The data collection techniques were systematic observation, afield diary, interviews and residents narratives and ethnographic records. The assumption is implicit in the notion of ownership. People only belong to a place when they identify themselves with it. A house ownership becomes a variable of urban sustainability when the subject incorporates contextualized in its surroundings.

Author Biography

Teresinha Maria Gonçalves, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense

Brazilian and Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense professor. Máster’s in Social Psychology and PhD. in Urban Environment Development interdisciplines. Her research line is in urban environment and identity development. Science that began and interdisciiplinary dialogue in Enviromental Psychology. She teaches Environment Science, two Psychology and Urban Architecture course, coordinates the Environment inguieris Lab and Urban space and Enviroment Psychology of the Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense – UNESC de Criciúma – SC – Brasil.