Estivas, tablados, trapiches e outros artefatos urbanísticos: direito à cidade e acessibilidade espacial na Amazônia ribeirinha

Abstract

This thesis investigates spatial accessibility in riverside Amazon and aims to analyze how riverside subjects, with or without disabilities or with reduced mobility, considering their socio-spatial particularities and human diversity, experience mobility and spatial accessibility in their public spaces, especially in the cities of Belém (PA), Macapá (AP), and Afuá (PA). The research problematizes the (re)production of urban intervention models imposed on realities strongly shaped by riverside ties, as well as the importance assumed by the value of the forest, rivers, and other ways of life that permeate the everyday practices and experiences of those who inhabit these cities. The thesis develops a critical perspective on urban policies which, along with laws and regulations - including accessibility norms - particularly those formulated from exogenous frameworks, when imposed in standardized ways, do not always align with the right to the city and to a dignified life grounded in urban diversity and the ways of life of Amazonian populations. Anchored in historical and dialectical materialism, the investigation adopts a qualitative approach, mobilizing bibliographic review, documentary analysis, systematic observation, semi-structured individual interviews, and focus groups in order to gain deeper understanding of representative riverine spaces in the three analyzed cities. The findings indicate that the application of standardized urban planning and accessibility models based on abstract normative criteria, detached from Amazonian socio-spatial specificities and particularities, tends to intensify exclusion processes affecting riverside communities, particularly people with disabilities and those with reduced mobility. Empirical evidence from the three cities demonstrates the feasibility of a future-oriented proposal aimed at reconciling spatial accessibility challenges, modern technical approaches, and riverine territorial identity. This perspective emerges from a shift in analytical focus toward traditional riverside cities themselves, which suggest alternative models of urban planning and reveal the potential of these groups to teach and propose other form of contents aligned with respect for and valorization of regional culture and ways of life of the region. It is concluded that the recognition of traditional spatial forms, as well as the practices and lived experiences of the diverse bodies that attribute meaning to them, constitutes a necessary condition for expanding knowledge and for formulatingaccessibility policies compatible with Amazonian urban diversity and with the realization of the right to the city in differentiated urban contexts.