Espaço urbano e o modo de vida na favela: a voz dos moradores da Rocinha em Feira de Santana-Ba

Abstract

This study examines the issue of slums in the urban space, establishing Feira de Santana, medium sized city of regional and national expression as center of the investigation. One of the objectives was to analyze the meaning of the place and way of life in the urban space of the Favela da Rocinha in Feira de Santana in the perspective of the residents using a qualitative methodology of ethnographic character, and using as research tools the direct observation, interviews and the formation of focal groups. The research produced an investigation of the daily life of the inhabitants, fact that made possible to create categories of analysis that reflect the voice of these residents. After the analysis of the results, the following conclusions were drawn: the Rocinha slum presents a low level of schooling, which is a conditioning and excluding factor that contributes effectively to the maintenance of poverty and social unbalance. The population contingent is in its full productive capacity, unemployed and underemployed, living in a territorial space where violence prevails. The expectation of the residents is to have access to better services of education, health, sanitation, leisure, work, safety and income. The state has been absent in the Rocinha slum since its beginning. For more than twenty years, the locality has not been noticed by public managers.