The fragmentation on the side of the road: the spatial practices of residents of gated communities

La fragmentación al costado del camino: las practicas espaciales de los residentes de barrios cerrados

Abstract

In modernity, the insecurities of life in the metropolis trigger strategies of self-segregation in gated community. Thus, the general objective of this research is to investigate the spatial practices of residents of gated communities in the metropolitan area of Brasília. The specific objectives are to identify the factors that lead to the consumption of housing units in these spaces and to analyze the spatial practices of these residents. Through bibliographic research and application of questionnaires, it was observed that controlling access to collective housing space is the main factor for the consumption of these autonomous units, the metropolis is experienced as a unique region and the feeling of security provided by living in a gated community contrasts with road insecurity.

Keywords:
self-segregation; socio-espatial fragmentacion; espatial pratices; fobópole; road safety

Resumen

En la modernidad, las inseguridades de la vida en la metrópolis desencadenan estrategias de autosegregación en barrios cerrados. El objetivo general de esta investigación es investigar las prácticas espaciales de los residentes de barrios cerrados en el área metropolitana de Brasilia. Los objetivos específicos son identificar los factores que conducen al consumo de viviendas en estos espacios y analizar las prácticas espaciales de residentes. A través de investigación bibliográfica y aplicación de cuestionarios, observó que el control de acceso al espacio de vivienda colectiva es el factor principal para el consumo de estas unidades autónomas, la metrópolis se vive como una región única y la sensación de seguridad que brinda vivir en un barrio cerrado contrasta con la inseguridad vial.

Palabras clave:
autosegregación; fragmentación socioespacial; practicas espaciales; fobópole; seguridad en carretera

Resumo

Na modernidade, as inseguranças da vida na metrópole desencadeiam estratégias de autossegregação em espaços residenciais fechados. Assim, o objetivo geral desta pesquisa é investigar as práticas espaciais dos moradores de espaços residenciais fechados da área metropolitana de Brasília. Os objetivos específicos são identificar os fatores que levam ao consumo de unidades habitacionais nestes espaços e analisar as práticas espaciais de trânsito destes moradores. Mediante pesquisa bibliográfica e aplicação de questionários, observou-se que controlar o acesso ao espaço habitacional coletivo é o principal fator para o consumo destas unidades autônomas, a metrópole é vivida como uma região única e a sensação de segurança proporcionada por viver em espaço residencial fechado contrastam com a insegurança viária.

Palavras-chave
autossegregação; fragmentação socioespacial; práticas espaciais; fobópole; segurança viária

Introduction

Modernity as a temporal cut of part of the human experience on Earth is the subject of discussions in several scientific spectrums. Its characteristics and consequences forged within the contemporary mode of production are issues that thinkers address with the perspective of explaining the relationships and processes of the current world.

In geographic science it is no different. This much-discussed modernity brought with it changes - and transformations - in the way that man distributes himself over and occupies the territory. These phenomena are even more complex when placed from the perspective of analyzing urban spaces. For the first time in history, humanity is primarily urban. Undoubtedly this is one of the main characteristics of this time. Added to this is the demographic explosion (there have never been so many people on the planet) and a production system that favors individualism, which gives rise to a series of conflicts, opposing individuals versus collectivities, institutions versus society and, from another perspective, the “I” versus the “Other”.

These conflicts unfold in their economic, social, cultural facets that consequently materialize in space, which is increasingly the target of territorial disputes. With regard to space with a residential function, these disputes are motivated by the search for an ideal of control, where those who hold power impose limits and borders that enhance insecurities, uncertainties, anxieties and fear. In this way, the subjectivity with which life in the metropolis is experienced is embodied in the private, collective and public space in various ways: on the private space, control and exclusion; about the collective, repression and order; about public space, anemia and emptying.

In this context, the general objective of this research is to investigate the spatial practices of residents of closed residential spaces in the Metropolitan Area of Brasília south. The specific objectives are to identify the factors that lead to the consumption of housing units in these spaces and to analyze the spatial transit practices of these residents.

Methodological steps of the research

The research carried out in this article is qualitative, which includes “research that aims to raise the opinions, attitudes and beliefs of a population” (GIL, 2008, p. 28). As for the procedures, they were carried out in stages.

In the first stage, a bibliographical research was carried out, where, in order to understand the characteristics of the current time and their respective developments in the urban space, the contributions of Bauman (2011, 2012), Graham (2016) and Souza (2008) play a leading role. The transition from the segregation process to socio-spatial fragmentation, specifically in the Brazilian case, was interpreted from the perspectives of Souza (2008), Sposito and Góes (2013) and Sposito (2018). To understand how spatial practices impact the space production process, the contributions of Souza (2013) and Sposito (2017) were highlighted.

The second stage of the research was the field survey (survey), of the questionnaire type (GIL, 2008). The universe of the research is the residents of the closed residential space “Villa Suiça”, inserted in the city of Cidade Oeste/GO, composed of 1,197 residential lots and 93 commercial units. According to the association of residential residents, there were 300 housing units occupied in October 2021. In this research, information provided by those who did not yet live there was disregarded, even though they had rights over residential lots within the allotment or in its area commercial.

As access to the interior of the allotment is restricted, it was decided to create the questionnaire on a digital platform - Google Forms - and make it available to the target audience through the instant messaging application group - Whatsapp - of those who were linked to the residents' association.

The questionnaire was available to receive responses between November 9th and 30th, 2021, obtaining 57 responses. Of the responses obtained, three were from people who did not live in the subdivision at that time, therefore, they were disregarded in the analysis that focused on the other 54 responses. Considering the target audience, which consisted of residents of the 300 autonomous units inhabited at that time, the sample obtained with the questionnaire corresponds to 18% of the universe.

As for the structure of the questionnaire, it had questions in the closed model, where the possibilities for responses by residents were previously elaborated, leaving the respondent to choose only one of the proposed options. It was composed of 45 questions, grouped into four blocks. The first deals only with a control question. The next of the characterization of the sample. The others address the spatial practices of the residents of Villa Suiça. It is worth noting that in order to analyze practices as actions, it is necessary to understand that they originate in the “combination of materiality (objective conditions of a physical-territorial nature) and representations that are constructed about the world and space (subjective conditions that mix reason and feeling)” (SPOSITO, 2017, p. 636). In order to investigate the sensation presented by residents about the questioned topic, questions were presented with answers on the Likert scale model, varying between five degrees, with an alternative of neutrality, considering that “this measurement is more used in the social sciences, especially in surveys of attitudes, opinions and evaluations” (GUNTHER, 2003, p. 11).

Insecurities, uncertainties, anxieties and fear in the era of liquid modernity

According to Bauman (2011) the metaphor used to distinguish between solid modernity and liquid modernity is based on the analysis of two geographic categories: space and time. From the author's perspective, space and time were aligned while the hardware (the body) imposed limits on human action. Once, no man had advantages over the others since the human body was the limitation of each one. No one moved with much greater speed than another. Likewise, the dissemination of information was also limited.

With the emergence of wetware (the machine) the equality of conditions ceases to exist. Those who have the resources to take advantage of the technology are offered displacement alternatives that provide considerably greater advantages that are denied to others. With the improvement of means of communication and transportation, space and time became dissociated categories.

Bauman and Lyon (2013) also analyzed the characteristics of modernity, pointing out two that stand out: the first is the fact that social forms dissolve faster than new forms are created. The other is the fact that power and politics are separating. According to them “without political control, power becomes a source of great uncertainty, while politics seems irrelevant to the problems and fears of people's lives” (BAUMAN; LYON, 2013, p. 9).

People's “problems and fears” are aggravated in a scenario where that actor in public life, constituted to guarantee security, is in decline. At the present time, the dynamics of deregulation and privatization of services provided, in addition to weakening the scope and impact of social policies financed by the State, show a conjunctural change, of particular importance in liquid modernity. Currently, the State “refuses to endorse the aspirations of certainty, security and guarantee of its citizens” (BAUMAN, 2011, p. 211). In this context,

The uncertainty of the future, the fragility of the social position and the insecurity of existence - which always and everywhere accompany life in liquid modernity, but have remote roots and escape the control of individuals - tend to converge towards closer objectives and assume the form of issues related to personal safety: situations of this type easily turn into incitements to segregationexclusion that lead - it is inevitable - to urban wars (BAUMAN, 2012, p. 21).

The author presents how uncertainty, fragility and insecurity, the fears of modernity, emerge from the subjective perspective and are objectified in reality, materializing in space the processes that take place in the social structure. Delegated to each individual or group, the defense of property and the body takes center stage in the daily life of the city dweller, involved at that time in a bellicose urban context.

The “urban wars” of liquid modernity were called by Feldman (2004 apud GRAHAM, 2016) as “securocratic war”. For Graham (2016), securocratic wars have three characteristics: they have no end date, they do not have specific territories (being fought against drugs, crime, terror, illegal immigration, etc.) public security, instead of territorial conquest, as it was in another moment. Securocratic wars require the engagement of citizen-soldiers to “personally monitor their everyday landscapes, to always be on the lookout for the ever-elusive and undefined 'unusual'” (GRAHAM, 2016, p. 164).

Another perspective through which the current situation of uncertainty, fragility and insecurity in urban life can be observed is from what Enzensberger (1993 apud SOUZA, 2008) called “molecular civil war”. For Souza (2008), molecular civil war includes a chronic state of low intensity urban warfare, repressive conservative discourses, heating of the “security market” and dissemination of selfprotection strategies for the most privileged. The author highlights the consequences of this conflict, including “less or more preventive, less or more repressive responses by the police and self-defensive reactions by the middle class and elites” (SOUZA, 2008, p. 36).

Both definitions - securocratic war and molecular civil war - compose the idea of “urban wars”, sharing common principles. The first, the space where the clashes are fought. Unlike in the past, where conflicts unfolded on battlefields, often far from everyday civilian life, today war advances on everyday spaces, on the urban environment. Before the war could even reach the city, but the city was not the main locus of the war. In modern times, the house needs ever higher walls and fences, the workplace is only accessible to those previously identified, and public spaces are only safe if completely guarded.

The second principle deals with time. If before the belligerents faced each other until the surrender of one of the sides, in liquid times, the state of war is permanent, with no end foreseen. Currently, people are at war. Much due to the third principle that runs through the two previous ones: the enemy on the other side of this permanent war has no face. He does not wear a uniform, is not identifiable to the naked eye and can be any “other” - the other understood as external to individuality, which can also be an individual (the foreigner, the poor, the slum dweller) or even an idea ( terrorism, drug trafficking, or the Corona virus)³

In this perspective, an armed conjuncture is experienced in liquid modernity, which takes place in the urban space, for an indefinite period against an untraceable enemy. In the Brazilian case, the protagonist space in this battle is the phobopolis. The term phobopolis

condenses what I try to qualify as cities in which fear and the perception of growing risk, from the point of view of public security, assume an increasingly prominent position in conversations, in the news of the mainstream press, etc., which is complexly related to various phenomena of a defensive, preventive or repressive nature, carried out by the State or by civil society - which has clear implications in terms of urban development and democracy (lato sensu). (...) A “phobopolis” is, crudely said, a violent city (SOUZA, 2008, p. 9).

In this same sense, the author also states that “a phobopolis is a city in which a large part of its inhabitants, presumably, suffer from chronic stress due to violence, fear of violence and a feeling of insecurity” (SOUZA, 2008, p. . 40). Therefore, phobopolis is the term that unites fear and city in a single word. Beyond a definition, the phobopolis can be understood as the material form, therefore the locus of a broader process - phobopolization - which is directly related to the subjective perspective with which individuals experience urban reality.

A generalized fear, even if it is also nuanced (according to class, skin color, age group, gender and place of residence), takes hold of hearts and minds, (re)conditioning travel and leisure habits , influencing forms of housing and habitat and modeling some standard discourses on urban violence (SOUZA, 2008, p. 54, emphasis added).

This context has its spatial implications. The analysis of the forms, functions, inserted in the social structure that signify and re-signify them constantly through time, contributes to demystify processes that are directly linked to the subjectivity of the individual experience of human life.

From segregation to socio-spatial fragmentation

Dedicated to each individual or group, the defense of property and the body takes center stage in the daily lives of those who live in the city. Against the fears of modernity, strategies of self-protection or even self-segregation materialize. Discussing self-segregation in the Brazilian urban context is a task that requires theoretical effort so that the process can be analyzed without losing its essence. One possibility to do so is to go the opposite way: starting from segregation to understand self-segregation.

According to Sposito (2018) segregation is commonly used as a polysemous concept, thus running the risk of losing explanatory power. When dealing with the theme, attention should be paid to the delimitation of its content, its forms of spatial expression, the spatial practices it engenders, its social subjects, as well as the elements that give it its tone. In this way, based on the complexity of the process analysis, “there are as many segregations, in fact and in potential, as many cities and urban situations that we face” (SPOSITO, 2018, p. 64).

Of the “many segregations” that exist, one can observe a movement towards the intensification of a species that has very peculiar characteristics in the Brazilian reality: self-segregation. Sposito and Góes (2013) contribute to differentiate them:

Segregation and self-segregation would be facets of the same process, since the distinction between the two conceptual propositions is in the point of view from which the separation is established. In the case of segregation, it is the majority that decides on total or relative separation from the minority, subject to this condition for reasons of different orders and, in the case of Latin American cities, above all due to the socioeconomic situation. With regard to self-segregation, it is the group with better conditions that opts for isolation from the city as a whole, which for them is the space of others and, therefore, no longer of everyone (SPOSITO; GOES, 2013, p. 281).

Correa (2018) points out that the means of controlling space in self-segregated areas provide “security for its inhabitants, expanding their status and prestige. These areas are considered noble, having been created by and for the high social status group” (CORREA, 2018, p. 43). Self-segregation is “a radical form of defensive residential grouping that seeks to bring together those who are similar and exclude those who are different and prevent access by undesirables” (VASCONCELOS, 2018, p. 27).

Self-segregation complicates the analysis of the segregation process. In this sense, Sposito (2018) argues that currently, the concept of socio-spatial segregation is insufficient to address the radical forms of segmentation, with a housing function, together with the tendency to multiply areas of consumption of goods and services. The author argues that a process of true socio-spatial fragmentation is underway. For this, she points out the following justifications: multi(poly)centric urban morphologies, as opposed to the mono and multicentric structures of the 20th century, which make the forms of spatial structuring more complex. Among them, segregation and self-segregation stand out, making it impossible, in some cases, to differentiate where one process ends and another begins; self-segregation goes beyond radical socio-spatial segmentation dynamics, also including consumption spaces; moreover, the process of self-segregation brings together the interests of those who produce and those who consume this product. In relation to its consumers, the motivation for “values” such as social distinction and security stands out; finally, there is a decrease in the spaces where everyone can live together, and now public life is largely carried out in spaces that are not public, but for collective use (SPOSITO, 2018).

In this scenario, the city is produced in fragments, with borders - visible and invisible - delimited everywhere.

Boundaries are established for the purpose of spatial control, and in the case in question the main factor is one of the following two, depending on the type of space and the actors involved: either the exercise of an “economy of violence” modality, including activities of extortion (trafficking and militias), or the search for security and maintenance of certain privileges (SOUZA, 2008, p. 58-59, emphasis added).

The process of socio-spatial fragmentation does not cancel or replace segregation. According to Souza (2008) fragmentation “is not merely a new way of designating residential segregation, although segregation is seen, in the wake of the process, worsened, due to new or renewed prejudices against favela residents” (SOUZA, 2008, p. 58). For Sposito (2018) segregation and fragmentation are “processes that succeed each other over time, with socio-spatial fragmentation being the most recent and most comprehensive, as it results from a wide range of dynamics, involving different forms of use and appropriation of space” (SPOSITO , 2018, p. 84). The author also states that the concept of fragmentation should be reserved for analyzing the pair segregation-self-segregation.

Still in this perspective, Sposito and Sposito (2020) reject the use of the concepts of segregation and fragmentation as synonyms. For the authors, the concept of socio-spatial fragmentation “can encompass the others, without thereby overcoming or discarding them, but incorporating them into the reflection” (SPOSITO; SPOSITO, 2020, p. 3).

The geographic forms with a residential function that stand out in the process of socio-spatial fragmentation are the Closed Residential Spaces-ERF.

Closed Residential Spaces are spaces aimed at fulfilling the primarily residential function, housing, where to reach the private, private environment, there is necessarily a transition, passage, through the collective space, which is guarded, policed, only accessible to those who come from the space public after screening processes (DOURADO; SOBRINHO, 2022).

These closed spaces admit vertical construction genres, with apartment-type housing units, or even horizontal ones, with houses or townhouses (DOURADO; ARAUJO SOBRINHO, 2022). They are actually found under different labels, such as “condominiums”, “closed subdivisions” and “exclusive condominiums”. Bauman highlights a feature of these spaces: isolation.

Isolation means separation from all who are considered socially inferior”, and - as the builders and real estate agents insist on saying - “the key factor to obtain it is security. This means fences and walls around the condominiums, guards (24 hours a day) watching the accesses and a series of devices and services… that serve to keep others away” (BAUMAN, 2012, p. 20).

Part of the security that is part of the basic elements of “gated communities” and horizontal ERFs - in a broader sense - is isolation from the city center. As they are far from the centers, they must be “self-contained universes”, where “residents must have at their disposal almost everything they need so that they can avoid the public life of the city” (CALDEIRA, 2000, p. 267). Even if they have this characteristic, avoiding city life is still not possible in many cases. Therefore, when choosing the urban insertion of these spaces, accessibility is considered as a condition for carrying out daily displacements.

Among the factors that constitute accessibility, one of them, the means of individual transport, acts as a potential for segregation. For Sposito (2018), the segregation caused by the automobile separates people through tinted windows and security systems, since from inside the automobile one “passes through public spaces, without this meaning appropriation of them; because it provides a level of speed in circulation that the means of public transport do not offer” (SPOSITO, 2018, p. 80).

The Villa Switzerland Brasilia

The Metropolitan Area of Brasília Sul, a region composed of the Goiás municipalities of Cidade Oeste, Luziânia, Novo Gama and Valparaíso de Goiás, became a privileged locus of real estate activity between 2009 and 2020. program of the federal government "Minha Casa Minha Vida" during its period of validity, if compared to the core of the metropolis, the Federal District. There was also an increase in the production and sale of housing units in ERF, both vertical and horizontal (DOURADO; SOBRINHO, 2020a, 2020b, 2022).

The BR040 Federal Highway, which connects the southeastern region of Brazil to Brasília, connects to the DF495 District Highway, where one of the largest ERF horizontal lines of the Metropolitan Area: the Villa Suiça Brasília (map 1).

Map 1
The urban insertion of Villa Suiça Brasília

The residential was produced by the developer Swiss Park, which has an extensive history in this segment, dating the beginning of its activities in the municipality of Marília, in 1977. After producing seven projects in Marília, it advanced with its activities to the municipalities of Tatuí, São Bernardo do Campo, Campinas and São Carlos all in the state of São Paulo. In 2011, it launched the residential Villa Suiça in Manaus/AM, inaugurating the process of expansion outside the territory of São Paulo, which culminated in the residential Villa Suiça Brasília, in Cidade Oeste/GO in 2012 (SWISS PARK, 2021).

Strictly speaking, Villa Suiça Brasília is registered with the City Hall of Cidade Oeste/GO as “Loteamento Parque do Distrito”. As an allotment, in theory, the internal circulation routes and their collective equipment constitute public space and public goods, therefore, available to everyone who is interested in transiting or using them. However, access to the interior of the enclosure is only allowed after authorization from a resident, making public access unavailable, privatizing, in practice, space and public goods.

The spatial practices of the residents of Villa Suiça

According to Sodré (2021) spatial practices constitute a theme of human geography, more specifically “geographies of everyday life”, a field where reflections are still quite dispersed and at a preliminary stage. This field arises from the approximation, from the 1990s, of geography with social psychology, linguistics and philosophy.

For Souza (2013) spatial practices are social practices. However, for him, not all social practice is spatial. According to the author, spatial practices are social practices “in which spatiality (spatial organization, territoriality, 'placeness'...) is a clear and highlighted component of the form of organization, the means of expression and/or the objectives to be achieved” (SOUZA, 2013, p. 241). Among heteronomous spatial practices, those imposed from the “top down” by socially dominant groups, Souza highlights “(self[s])segregation” in the list of what he called coercive spatial practices.

When discussing spatial practices, Sposito (2017) directly relates them to spatial logics. While practices are actions carried out by city dwellers, logics are implemented by companies. According to the author, “the practices are related to society as a movement that is carried out empirically” (SPOSITO, 2017, p. 635).

It is from this perspective that the author emphasizes that

Each one, when making a spatial choice (any route in the city, a place to live or for leisure and fun, the path between home and work, the itinerary between residence and consumption spaces, etc.) option considering very objective conditions, but also others of a subjective nature (SPOSITO, 2017, p. 636).

In yet another contribution to distinguishing the logics of spatial practices, Sposito (2017) highlights, among others, the points that characterize the practices of city dwellers: they are directly associated with everyday life and, therefore, much more accustomed to short times, in which they the traditions; they are not always planned; they are an imponderable mix between objectivity and subjectivity; are predominantly affected by local dimensions, even though those with more economic power and/or greater knowledge can make consumption choices on multiple geographic scales, moving between them and articulating them more intensely.

In this scenario, it is possible to state that the spatial logic of Swiss Park, which produced an allotment on the metropolitan fringe of Brasilia, demanded a series of practices from the consumers of its goods - the lots. In this way, it is admitted that the first spatial practice carried out by the residents was exactly the consumption, the purchase, the acquisition, of their autonomous unit.

From a quantitative perspective, 53.7% of respondents said they had purchased the lot by paying the lot company in installments, while 25.9% bought it from an individual owner (in cash or in installments), 11.1% financed it in credit institutions and 9, 3% paid cash for Swiss Park. Regarding the type of residence prior to moving to the allotment, of the total number of respondents, 44.4% came from vertical condominiums of buildings, 40.7% stated that they did not live in ERF and 14.8% lived in horizontal condominiums (of houses). When asked if there had already been victims of crime in the internal space or in the vicinity of the previous residence, 83.3% said “no” and 16.7% said “yes”. Of the latter group, those who suffered crimes, all of them did not live in ERF in the previous residence, six in the district territory and three of them in the state of Goiás.

According to Table 1, controlling access to the residential area is the most important factor for residents, followed by distancing from other urban centers. The interest in moving away, “self-segregating”, therefore, fragmenting from the rest of the urban complex is noticeable when adding the relevance of these two characteristics that jointly total 79.6% of the responses. The availability of collective equipment was not mentioned by any interviewee as the most important characteristic.

Chart 1
Villa Suiça's most important feature to choose as a place to live

Most important feature		Quantity	%
Residential area access control		26	48,1
Distance from other urban centers		17	31,5
The architectural standards of the units		10	18,5
The social distinction of the residents		1	1,9
Availability of collective facilities		-	-
	Total	54	100

Source: the authors, 2022.

When dealing with access control, about 96.3% of them stated that they would not have chosen to live in Villa Suiça if there had not been a walled perimeter and access control, while 3.7% said they were indifferent to these factors and no respondent stated that I would still live there if these attributes did not exist.

When asked about the possibility of removing the walls and removing access control devices, 83.3% said that under these conditions they would not remain living there, while 11.1% would continue and 5.6% said they were indifferent. The desire to control access to collective housing space is once again reinforced as 57.4% believe that the amounts collected by the residents' association should be invested primarily in private security activities, while 31.5% believe in infrastructure works. basic, 9.3% collective equipment and 1.9% urban cleaning service.

Regarding the subjectivity with which the closed residential space is consumed and the spatial practices that are carried out from this, 63% of residents agreed that they were satisfied with paying the contribution to the residents' association in order to maintain access control. 25.9% of the public roads and facilities at Villa Suiça completely agreed with the statement, 9.3% completely disagreed and 1.9% disagreed. That is, 88.9% of residents agree or completely agree to pay the contribution so that the allotment remains with controlled access.

As shown in Graph 1, even though there is a whole technological and professional apparatus, which obeys the regulations proposed by the residents themselves, with the objective of controlling access to Villa Suiça, 33.4% of them constitute the group that disagrees (27.8 %) and who completely disagree (5.6%) that these measures are sufficient to promote their safety. Despite this, 90.7% of respondents agree (57.4%) or completely agree (33.3%) with the statement that if there were no control, the use of the internal space of the closure would be dangerous. In the same perspective, 68.5% of the questioned residents agree that they feel safe at Villa Suiza and 24.1% completely agree, making up a group that totals 92.6% of the sample.

Graph 1
Subjective conditions that motivate the spatial practices of Villa Suiça residents

If, from the perspective of the interviewees, access control reduces danger, impacting the feeling of security, when they are in the city, understood roughly as an urban space outside the enclosure, the residents of Villa Suiça had different sensations in relation to insecurity when compared to previous questions. 38.9% of them formed a group that disagreed (31.5%) and completely disagreed (7.4%) that they felt unsafe in the city: that is, they felt safe outside Villa Suiça. On the other hand, there is the group, comprising 37% of the sample, who agreed (31.5%) and completely agreed (5.6%) that they felt insecure outside the closure. The third group was indifferent, represented by 24.1% of the answers obtained.

spatial practices express dimensions of social, micropolitical and cultural life, thus, their interrelationship with subjectivity is complex: senses, meanings and images about spaces are constructed and take shape, in the development of practices and, at the same time, a once built, they condition future practices (GÓES; SPOSITO, 2016, p. 42, emphasis added).

This is how, while promoting safety, the “processes that make spaces 'safe' are always laden with theatricality; the symbology and performance at the same time reassure and sow anxiety” (GRAHAM, 2016, p. 212). In other words, the safer the “community” promises to be, the more anxious its members are, generating even more anxiety and, indirectly, insecurity.

Those who feel safe in the city form a group that is only 1.9% (in this research corresponding to only one individual) larger than the other, who think the opposite. Despite this, in the previous questions it is clear how much access control is valued by the majority group of residents, contrasting with the feeling of security in the city that does not point in the same direction.

Resuming the analysis, starting from the most important characteristics that justified the choice of Villa Suiza as a place to live, the next one deals with the isolation from other urban centers. Sposito and Góes (2013) pay attention to the particularities of ERF located in peripheral regions. For the authors, one of the attributes that characterize the ERF is the fact that they are areas of strictly residential use, which encourages the consumption of goods and services for the “open city”, outside the walls. Isolation directly influences the spatial practices of residents and becomes a central element of these practices when one considers the fact that the commercial area of the subdivision, outside the closure, where commercial equipment and services aimed at everyday life should be concentrated - supermarket , hortifruti, butcher shop, bakery, educational institutions - suffer from the low occupancy and availability of these equipment.

Once “propelled” towards the “open city”, the terrain needs to be traversed, through displacements, which originate in the private space of the dwelling and have as their final objective the place of consumption and income generation, where activities are carried out. economic activities: the workplace. Information on displacements “constitutes an important reference for the analysis of processes of metropolization and urban expansion. (...) The centralities of these areas become clear and allow the identification of selective processes of use and appropriation of space” (MOURA; BRANCO; FIRKOWSKI, 2005, p. 121).

Considering that Villa Suiça is, in a straight line, 14 km from the Setor Sul neighborhood (Administrative Region of Gama/DF), 7.5 km from the Total Ville neighborhood and 8.3 km from Quadra QR 419 (Administrative Region of Santa Maria/DF ), 6.5 km from the Cidade Jardins neighborhood (Valparaíso de Goiás/GO) and 6 km from the Nova Friburgo neighborhood (Cidade Oeste/GO), prominent centralities in the Metropolitan Area of Brasília Sul, transiting through open public roads makes circulation easier. if an imperative, that gives rise to a series of direct consequences.

A sprawling and dispersed metropolis means longer commuting time for its inhabitants, greater vehicle traffic and greater commuting between the place of residence and the place of work. An irrationality is produced in this metropolis that requires capital to spend more time moving around the city, with the possibility of multiplying traffic accidents and increasing the environment laden with pollutants (LENCIONI, 2017, p. 93).

According to Chart 2, it is observed how the motivation for the trip directly influences the route to be taken. When analyzing the spatial practices of traffic for the study, the DF is presented as the main destination for residents of Villa Suiça, where 53.8% move, with protagonism for Plano Piloto and Santa Maria (both Administrative Regions with 20 .4%), while the state of Goiás receives 31.5% of the flow. The municipality where the allotment is located, Cidade Oeste, is the destination of only 1.9% of residents. By disregarding 11.1% of respondents who study at home, therefore, they do not travel, Valparaíso de Goiás is the main destination in Goiás, reaching the mark of 18.5%, just behind Plano Piloto and Santa Maria.

Chart 2
Destination of the spatial practices of transit for study, work and domestic purchases of the residents of Villa Suiça

Federation unity	Local		Transit space practice
		Study		Work	home shopping
DF	Plano Piloto	20,4%		29,6%	3,7%
	Gama	11,1%		7,4%	1,9%
	Santa Maria	20,4%		3,7%	27,8%
	Other Administrative Regions	1,9%		20,4%	11,1%
GO	Cidade Ocidental	1,9%		0,0%	1,9%
	Valparaíso de Goiás	18,5%		14,8%	48,1%
	At home	11,1%		11,1%	0,0%
	Other municipalities in Goiás	0,0%		1,9%	0,0%
Others	Municipalities outside the DF and GO	0,0%		5,6%	5,6%
-	No one in the family studies/works	14,8%		5,6%	-
Total		100,0%		100%	100,0%

Source: the authors, 2022.

Investigating the spatial practices of transit, in this case for work, it is observed how the metropolitan core is extremely relevant in the population arrangement of the AMB as the main income generating pole. The DF is the destination of 61.1% of the residents of Villa Suiça, mainly Plano Piloto (29.6%), while this displacement to Goiás represents 27.8%. Of the percentage that works in Goiás, it is also worth mentioning that 11.1% work at home, that is, they do not need to travel for this reason.

To carry out domestic purchases, understood as supermarket, fruit, butcher and bakery purchases, 50% of residents stated that they carry them out in Goiás, 44.5% in the DF and 5.6% outside the Federal District and Goiás. In this spatial practice of transit, the appearance of Valparaíso de Goiás stands out, where 48.1% of respondents claim to follow, followed by Santa Maria (27.8%) and other Administrative Regions of the DF (11.1%). In contrast to what happens in the spatial practices of transit to study and work, where it appears leading the ranking, the Plano Piloto is indicated by only 3.7% of the residents of Villa Suiça as a place for domestic purchases.

It is worth mentioning the prominent role played by Valparaíso de Goiás, as this is the only location that is present in the ranking of the top three for each spatial traffic practice, including leading supermarket, fruit and vegetable, butcher and bakery purchases. Still from the analysis of Chart 2, it is apprehended how much the spatial practices of traffic reinforce the “region”, in this case, south of Brasília:

This sense of living in a region, more than in a city, reveals the idea of a territorial set. Habitat, employment and activities are integrated into the daily functioning of this region. Integrated thanks to the mismatch between employment - jobs - and the active population of a city. Or between the possibility of formal education (instruction) in relation to the population. Integrated, also, due to a specific aspect of space fragmentation, the real estate market, which territorially segregates the population (LENCIONI, 2017, p. 177).

Another particularity of ERF that is presented by Sposito and Góes (2013) concerns accessibility. According to them, accessibility to the city as a whole should not be measured by distance, but rather by the relationship between distance and the time required to travel, together with the quality of the conditions for this travel. In this scenario, the time invested to carry out the displacement constitutes a portion of the resources that are mobilized in this action.

Therefore, in addition to the mileage traveled, distance cannot be understood only from the physical dimensions of the land surface. Time also needs to be considered ( Graph 2).

Graph 2
time spent in spatial practices of transit to study and work

It is observed that study trips are not necessary for 29.6% of respondents. Most of those who travel, stay in the group that takes between 15 and 40 minutes, together totaling 38.9% of the sample. Those who need 40 minutes to more than an hour correspond to 14.8% of respondents.

Regarding the time spent commuting to work, the ranking is led by those who take between 25 and 40 minutes (22.2%) and an hour or more (also with 22.2%), followed by those who take between 40 and 59 minutes (20.4%). These three groups together represent 64.8% of the sample. Considering that for 11.1% it is not necessary to go to work, only 24.1% (less than 1/4) take up to 25 minutes to go to work.

Another important factor that adds to the destination and time spent on trips and contributes to understanding the spatial traffic practices of these residents is the frequency with which they need to travel. Distance is time; not just the time of a trip, but the sum of all trips as well as their costs and frequencies for all family members (VILLAÇA, 2017, p. 73, emphasis added).

According to Chart 3, to study, 29.6% of the subdivision residents do not need to go out, while another 29.6% go out once a day and 37.1% of them go out twice or more a day. To work, 46.3% go out only once, 29.6% go out twice or more times a day and 24.1% do not go out or do not need to leave Villa Suiça to work. For household purchases, there is a clear protagonism of the group that does not go out every day, corresponding to 64.8% of the sample, followed by those who go out once a day (25.9%) and those who claim to go out twice or more times a day (9.3%) to make domestic purchases. It is observed that trips for study and work are more frequent, to the point that practically a third of those who travel for these purposes do so more than once a day. On the other hand, to carry out household purchases, trips are less frequent, suggesting that trips to study/work are used for shopping, making trips out of the allotment more rare for this sole purpose.

Chart 3
Frequency of spatial practices of transit for study, work and household purchases by residents of Villa Suiça

Frequency of displacements		transit space practice
	Study	Work	home shopping
1 per day	29,6%	46,3%	25,9%
2 per day	24,1%	22,2%	3,7%
3 or more per day	13,0%	7,4%	5,6%
Don't go out every day	3,7%	14,8%	64,8%
Do not leave	29,6%	9,3%	0,0%
Total	100,0%	100,0%	100,0%

Source: the authors, 2022.

Destination, time and frequency are factors considered by city dwellers to carry out their spatial practices. Another determining factor in these everyday choices is the type of transport. In this regard

The relationships between proximity and contiguity have changed, since the use of automotive transport and the expansion of communication possibilities redefine the spatial interactions between different residential areas, between these and the areas of work, consumption and leisure. The result of these transformations is the generation of a more complex spatial geometry of flows and less supported in the spaces of immediate insertion of different social subjects in cities (SPOSITO; GOES, 2013, p. 295).

As for the means of transport used in the spatial practices of the residents of Villa Suiça, individual, private transport is the main mode used by these residents. Both for study and for work, this means of transport has full protagonism. For the study, individual transport corresponds to 66.7% of respondents, considering that 25.9% do not even need to travel to study. For work, 88.9% use their own vehicles to travel and 9.3% do not travel for this purpose. It is worth mentioning that, despite being presented as an alternative for answering the questionnaire, there are no public transport lines that transit in the vicinity of the subdivision.

Starting from the observation that the spatial practices of transit of the residents of Villa Suiça are carried out primarily in private vehicles, since there are no public transport lines in the vicinity, also considering the fact that public transport is very little used as much as carpooling, the analysis of the subjective conditions that deal with the spatial practices of transit can contribute to understanding whether the isolation in relation to other urban centers and the availability - or not - of public transport is determinant for the preference for the most used modal. In addition, we also sought to identify how road safety is perceived by residents (graph 3).

Graph 3
Subjective conditions that motivate the spatial practices of traffic of the residents of Villa Suiça

Residents perceive the subdivision's isolation from other urban centers in different ways. 46.3% negatively evaluated the idea that Villa Suiça could be closer to other urban centers, this group being composed of those who disagreed (31.5%) or completely disagreed (14.8%) with the statement that dealt with this topic . 25.9% of the sample answered being “indifferent”, while 25.9% agreed and 1.9% completely agreed with the statement, the latter group, of those who evaluated positively, represents 27.8% of the sample. In this scenario, it is observed that despite the isolation inflicting the need for spatial practices of transit, in some cases surpassing the mark of twice a day, almost half (46.3%) of the residents demonstrated to like the fact that the subdivision is separated from the rest of the urban fabric.

If there is a movement towards valuing distance, there is, on the other hand, an interest in changing the mode of transport by which practices are carried out. 50% of respondents agree that they would like there to be public transport lines to Villa Suiça and 44.4% completely agree with the statement.

Considering that the destinations, the time spent, the frequency, the type of transport constitute factors of the spatial practices of traffic, the road safety with which the displacements are carried out is also part of the list of these attributes. When asked about the feeling of safety on the route (graph 3), that is, on the vehicle circulation routes, between the adjacent urban spaces and the subdivision, 3.7% completely disagreed and 44.4% disagreed that they felt safe, 18.5% declared themselves indifferent to the statement, while those who felt safe in this trip form a group of 33.4%. Thus, among the three groups analyzed, those who feel insecure stand out, comprising 48.1% of the sample.

When analyzing the satisfaction in relation to the engineering conditions and traffic signaling of the highways that give access to Villa Suiça, the dissatisfied group clearly prevails. They total 83.4% of the sample, being formed by those who completely disagreed with the proposed statement (24.1%) and those who disagreed (59.3%). Much of the dissatisfaction is due to the fact that the traffic signaling, in charge of the Department of Highways - DER of the Federal District, lacks implementation and maintenance, in the vicinity of the allotment, which according to the residents' association, has already been the target of of several requests to that body.

Regarding the efficiency of traffic control, which promotes road safety on the highways that give access to Villa Suiça, 81.5% of respondents had negative responses, with 20.4% completely disagreeing and 61.1% disagreeing with the statement. . To finalize the data dealing with road safety and the spatial practices of traffic of the residents of the allotment, 81% of them stated that they had already seen a traffic accident on the roads that give access to Villa Suiça and 19% had never seen one. In this context, for these residents, as well as road engineering and signaling, traffic control also needs to be improved in this region as an action to reduce road insecurity.

Final considerations

Analyzing the spatial consumption practice of the autonomous unit itself - the lot - it became evident how much the facilitated payment, understood as installments, contributed to the purchase of most residents. For the consumer, buying at interest rates appears to be a good alternative - or is it the only option, which points to the fact that without involving the complex credit operations of the real estate market, these housing units would hardly have been purchased.

Dealing with the characteristic that determined the choice of housing in that space, it can be observed that access control is the main motivation. Controlling the access of the “other” to the collective space of the dwelling is what unites the residents around a common ideal, “the defense of the community”, since they are practically unanimous in stating that if there were no closure, they would not have chose to live there. Adding these indicators to the fact that the values collected by the residents' association should be invested primarily in security activities, for most of the interviewees, one can see how important this factor is.

Comparing the importance of territorial control, a contrast can be observed with regard to the consumption of the autonomous units of Villa Suiça. If, on the one hand, the need to control access is the most important feature, most residents consider the measures currently adopted to be sufficient, to the point that virtually all respondents feel safe inside the enclosure.

In addition, when analyzing the feeling of security in the city, outside the closure, the group of “secure” surpassed (by only one individual) the group composed of those who feel “insecure”. This would not justify the rates achieved by the need for territorial control presented in the previous questions. Safe and unsafe are almost equivalent, however there is a movement raging towards the improvement of control in the collective space. This relationship suggests that there is a real fetishism around the need to control the intra-wall space, as opposed to what is really felt when the resident is in the open city.

With regard to spatial practices of transit, it was possible to perceive how much the Metropolitan Area of Brasília is experienced as a region. If to study and work, the resident of the allotment follows his route towards the DF, to carry out his domestic purchases, the main destination is the state of Goiás. This demonstrates how, in everyday life, city dwellers make their spatial choices - spatial practices - based on what they objectively and subjectively elect as a locational advantage. If there is greater availability of educational institutions and greater options for income generation and economic activities in the metropolitan core, that is where he goes. If the amounts charged for household items on the outskirts of the metropolis tend to be lower, the displacement is in that direction. In this perspective, living on the border presents a series of potentialities that the resident explores according to what is most convenient for him at that moment.

If the frontier can be a place of potential, it is also a place of conflict. As it is sparsely populated - at least for the time being - the surroundings of Villa Suiça do not have public transport lines, which imposes the obligation that spatial practices be carried out by means of private transport, which increases the need for investment in resources in this practice: financial resources, such as the purchase and maintenance of the vehicles themselves, as well as the time invested in commuting, which for a considerable group, is carried out more than once a day.

Relating the subjective conditions that motivated the purchase of the housing unit at Villa Suiça and those that permeate the spatial practices of transit, another contradiction becomes clear: if the interior space at the closure is safe, the same does not happen with the path, the displacement between the city and the lottery. The dissatisfaction with the engineering and signaling conditions, the inefficiency of inspection added to the traffic accidents already witnessed point to a latent road insecurity on the highways that give access to the allotment, suggesting that in addition to investing financial resources and time, subjectively, to live in closed paradise it is necessary to go through the ordeal of traffic in the open city.

• 3
  During the period in which this research was carried out, on January 30, 2020, the World Health OrganizationWHO declared the coronavirus outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) - the highest alert level of the Organization. Source: Pan American Health Organization. Available at [https://www.paho.org/pt/covid19/historico-da-pandemia-covid-19] accessed on November 16, 2022

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  07 July 2023
• Date of issue
  2023

History

• Received
  20 Dec 2022
• Accepted
  30 Mar 2023