A cidade geossimbólica e suas afetações na dinâmica do espaço vivido em Natal (RN) - Brasil

Abstract

An affective relation binds the citizen to the city as a material and human construction which becomes immaterial when worshiped. Through topophilia and topophobia as structuring elements of this dynamic, the city is (re)defined and the understanding of the space lived and the experiences which sustain it is outlined. In this process, a city loaded with affectivity and meanings is established as an anchorage of multiple experiences: the geosymbolic city. In the direction of the epistemology of a Cultural Humanist Geography, we face this idea of city as an experience of lived space, being much more than forms delineated by raised concrete and by the dynamics of nature: it contains human affectivity! Under this perspective, the thesis studies the city of Natal, capital of Rio Grande do Norte, considering its affections in the dynamics of the lived space. To do so, it highlights the geosymbols of the city – or, more commonly, its monuments, as a way to access the city's affectivity. In the cultural dimension of the constitution of the city, geosymbols are geographic forms susceptible of connoting values and feelings, which significantly influence the process of construction of the livable, the sayable and the visible in the discursive matrix of Natal. Under a phenomenological perspective, understanding how this city affects those who live in it becomes the main goal of this thesis. To achieve it, among the procedures and techniques that validate the academic work, it was necessary: 1) bibliographical research; 2) documentary research of primary and secondary sources; 3) field research and, 4) research in virtual environment – geo-cyberspace, having as platform of data collection the social network Facebook, for the study of topophobia and topophilia in graphic representations by emojis. These representations engender ways of seeing, saying and living the city mediated by images in contemporary contexts, in which Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), have engendered diverse types of socio-spatial relationships. In this order, the geosymbolic city emerges as a result of discourse-images around it and its natural and social geosymbols, in relation to which citizens develop feelings, create bonds of affection or dislike them, attributing to them the priority of providing happiness or sadness. From this point of view, the city is rather a substantial, affective space, than a delimited geographic cutout. In this dynamic, the vitality of the city is revealed in the experiences and in the way it affects the citizen.