Social landscape: reflections about the open space importance for social housing policies

Abstract

This article gathers analysis of a PhD. research on social practices in the open spaces of housing neighborhoods in Brazil and Chile. The complexity of social practices in social housing is the result not only of the created urban environment, with the combination of social inequality, peripheral inclusion and insecurity, but mainly of the administration and maintenance of this inequality. The article demonstrates that the modus operandi of building housing complexes, without paying attention to social practices and without encouraging social groups to be actors in their own contexts, is a practice that needs to be overcome. There is a need to consider the social relationship created and made possible by open spaces, which need to be thought of for social practice, and to avoid limitations of social practices, which lead to (dis)practice, a concept presented in this article. It seeks to illustrate the importance of considering social practices and the design of open spaces in social housing policies. It is recognized that, although these are not sufficient to resolve the various issues arising in contexts of urban and social vulnerability, they are key to enabling greater changes.