Parque escola da Universidade Federal de Alfenas (UNIFAL-MG) campus Varginha : ação catalisadora de uma transformação urbana regenerativa

Abstract

Paying attention to the contemporary systemic crisis – climate, ecological, social, economic, political and cultural –, it appears that cities are contributors and protagonists in facing this situation: the discussion is at a global level, but the fight will be won at a local level . Firstly and in light of this, this work demonstrates how this climate emergency scenario affects urban areas and how it is possible to implement sustainable and regenerative solutions in this territory, where everything happens. The look at environmental problems permeates the urban issue – social, spatial and distribution inequality of infrastructure and essential services – and that is why the concept of sustainable urban development was adopted, which addresses these dimensions in an integrated way. This prism comes closer to the premises of the right to the city by aiming for more democratic and sustainable cities, at the same time that it places nature as the basis for sustaining social and economic life – and not an exploitable and inexhaustible source of resources. Given this situation, the objective of this research concerns contributing to the construction of a participatory design method through the development of the school park project in an area of the Federal University of Alfenas (UNIFAL-MG) on the Varginha campus (South of Minas Gerais) inspired in regenerative urbanism and integrated with the demands of the university – in the fields of teaching, research and extension – and the territory in which it is located. To this end, a qualitative bibliometric analysis was carried out on the use and occupation of public spaces and placemaking to identify the frequent challenges and limitations associated with the implementation of such initiatives and on regenerative urbanism and nature-based solutions (SbN). This investigation can be classified as methodological and interventionist, consisting of bibliographical research, field research – including interviews and participant observation, through walks and interaction with the location – and action research. The application of the action research method occurred through a collective, participatory and active structure provided by the permaculture training course held on the UNIFAL-MG Varginha campus, in which researchers and participants representing the situation were involved in a cooperative manner in the proposition of a participatory design for the area under study. The final project of the school park was proposed by carrying out a creative synthesis of these designs, in order to ensure that the area in question is an educational and nature protection territory, bringing together pedagogical power with research in sustainability and participatory collective action on the scale of the neighborhood community.