Social appropriation in the Urban and Natural Parks in Sorocaba (SP, Brazil)

Abstract

Public spaces are essential for livelier, safer, sustainable and healthier cities.  It is essencial the existence of public use programs for urban parks and municipal natural parks, for conserving nature and guaranteeing its use by populations. It is essential to consider the local characteristics, for the elaboration of these programs, guaranteeing access to non-formal education programs and public use of public spaces, but also to promote cultural and leisure practices in these spaces. This work addresses parks in an urban environment, seeking to analyze the distribution of these areas in the city of Sorocaba and how public space is used by the population, through recreational and leisure practices. The exploratory, descriptive study, based on a qualitative-quantitative approach, it was carried out through a combination of bibliographic, documentary and field research, guided by systematic observation (observation protocol) and semi-structured interviews with users of urban parks and municipal natural parks in the municipality. These surveys were carried out in 8 parks in the city. The results show that there are disparities in the provision of services in relation to the policy of activities and the issue of security, as well as the demand for improvements in infrastructure and environmental landscaping. The parks are used for the practice of sports, for resting, meeting friends, walking with children and contemplating nature. There are parks in Sorocaba in worse conditions that end up being underutilized to the detriment of parks that are better located and with a greater concentration of income in the surroundings.