Entre liberdades e restrições: experiências na mobilidade urbana de crianças nos trajetos casa-escola-casa em Quixadá, Ceará

Abstract

Children, especially those from the urban middle class, have a social role that is increasingly dependent on the adult, invisible in the decision-making processes of urban life, considered the citizen of the future and not of today, and confined in private environments based on the argument of safety and well-being. Its movements are more motorized, rarely independent (without direct supervision by adults) and experienced through glass on “private islands”, in which the public space is just a passage. These relationships have directly impacted their social, emotional, mental and spatial development. There are several studies and initiatives that play a leading role in the child-city relationship and its displacements, however, there is a gap in research outside the large urban centers of developing countries. Thus, the objective of this research was to understand the child-city interactions in the light of urban mobility experiences in the home-school-home routes in Quixadá/CE and their (dis)stimulations to active and independent transport. We structured the methodological path in (1) literature review on active/independent mobility and urban experiences as citizen possibilities (BARBOSA, 2016; SARMENTO, 2018; TONUCCI, 2005) through environmental perception and affective relationships in the attachment to place as basis for an ethical-political action-transformation in the city (GIULIANI, 2003; ITTELSON, 1978; LYNCH, 1982; TUAN, 2013). Then, we developed an exploratory study with the (2) characterization of socio-physical aspects of the paths through mapping, field observations and photographic records. Subsequently, (3) we applied questionnaires with parents/guardians and conducted structured interviews and affective maps with children aged 8 to 11 years in three public schools. The results showed that 73% of the participating children traveled with active modes and 50% of the total had some experience of autonomous mobility. Part of the adults proved resistant to active mobility and, even more, to independent travel due to long distances, urban violence, fear of strangers, traffic and environmental comfort. The characteristics that enhanced active and independent transport were urban permeability (network configurations, blocks); diversity of land uses; urban legibility for the residents; presence of a neighborhood network; and attribution of positive qualifications. Environmental knowledge was more solid and critical with a functional, relational and symbolic links with the paths in children who adopted active mobility, while in children with motorized mobility the link was only functional and less critical. Thus, we conclude that the environments (social, built, family, transport and subjectivities) of Quixadá had more aspects that favored the adoption of active/independent transport, although it is not intentionally educational in the spatial aspect of the urban environment. This reality has provided opportunities for the child's experience and development of bonds with the public space, building greater citizenship potential. More than ever, if we aspire for more democratic and plural cities in difficult times like the one we are facing, we need to amplify the city's educational potential, in addition to being necessary, hope in childhood is also a possibility for resistance.