UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM
Research Master International Development Studies
Thais Cestari Miranda (11137657)
thaiscmir@gmail.com
Micro-scale Development: Creative Economy, the Right to
the City, Social Inclusion and the Case of the Mário de
Micro-scale development: creative economy, the right to the city, social
inclusion and the case of the Mário de Andrade Public Library
By Thais Cestari Miranda
Student number: 11137657
Email: thaiscmir@gmail.com
Supervisor:
Dr. Courtney Vegelin (C.L.Vegelin@uva.nl)
Second reader:
Dr. Michaela Hordijk (M.A.Hordijk@uva.nl)
Graduate School of Social Sciences
Research Master in International Development Studies
ABSTRACT
Libraries are no longer seen as a mere collection of books, but increasingly understood as spaces of public dialogue that can foster inclusion. Libraries embrace aspects of the creative economy by promoting new platforms of knowledge and broadening its audience. Although recognized as a phenomenon, the question whether and how libraries address issues of social inclusion has hardly been studied, and even less in Southern cities. Combining theories of the right to the city with the notions of creative economy, this paper analyzes how the recent revitalization process of the Mario de Andrade Public Library in São Paulo (Brazil) enhances social inclusion and addresses issues of the right to the city. The case of the Mario de Andrade Public Library is of specific interest because it is the second largest library in Latin America, located in a city that suffers evident inequality, in a city center that suffered steep degradation. The modernization of the library included explicit attempts to improve urban space, and embraced aspects of a creative economy institution, such as hosting traditional and cultural expressions, performing arts, audio-visuals and creative services. Using a mixed methods approach, this paper analyzes the ideas proposed by the organization in order to identify its goals to enhance social inclusion. Moreover, it explores users’ experiences within the library concerning their perceptions on social inclusion, while mapping their socioeconomic backgrounds. The users of the Mario de Andrade Public Library perceived that their inclusion was not restricted by their social economic status. Instead, they manifested that the library allowed them to enjoy the facilities of a public urban space, without having further expenses. The paper concludes that the Mario de Andrade Public Library has conceived a new library model based on the ideas of democratization of knowledge and the promotion of social inclusion and the right to the city. Thus, by encouraging social inclusion and the promotion of the right to the city, there is evidence for policymakers to foster creative economy initiatives within public urban spaces in order to tackle social inequalities.
Key words: creative economy, social inclusion, right to the city, urban public space, public library, São Paulo, Brazil.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction ... 1 2 Theoretical Framework ... 3 2.2 Creative Economy ... 5 2.2.1 The various layers of the concept of creative economy ... 6 2.2.2 Potentials and limitations ... 8 2.2.3 Creative economy and public policy ... 10 2.2 Right to the city ... 11 2.2.1 Whose rights? ... 13 2.2.2 What rights? ... 14 2.2.3 What city? ... 15 2.2.4 Implementation: Global North and Global South ... 16 2.2.5 The right to the city in Latin America ... 18 2.4 Social Inclusion ... 19 2.5 Concluding remarks ... 24 3 Research Design ... 25 3.1.1 Partially Participant Observations ... 27 3.1.2 Semi-structured interviews ... 27 3.1.3 Survey ... 28 3.1.4 Analysis and learning process ... 29 3.1 Research questions ... 30 3.2 Research Paradigm ... 30 3.3 Quality criteria ... 31 3.4 Conceptual scheme ... 32 3.5 Ethical considerations ... 32 4 Research Context ... 34 4.1 Historical Background of the Mário de Andrade Public Library ... 34 5 Empirical Data on the Dynamics in which the MAPL Operates ... 39 5.1 Renewal & Modernization of the MAPL: 21st Century Library ... 40 5.2 People as Platforms of Knowledge ... 42 5.3 Democratization of Access to Knowledge ... 43 5.4 Vulnerable groups ... 49 5.5 Dialogue with the Local Community ... 53 5.6 Creative Economy ... 55 5.7 Concluding Remarks ... 59 6 Modernization in Practice: User Perceptions of the MAPL ... 60 6.1 Mapping the Users – General Background Data ... 61 6.2 The Interaction with the Mário de Andrade Public Library ... 68 6.3 Users’ Opinions about the Mário de Andrade Public Library ... 74 6.4 Concluding Remarks ... 83 7 Answering research questions ... 86 8 Further reflections ... 908.1 Suggestions for further research ... 92
11 Bibliography ... 96 Appendix ... 107
Table of Figures
Figure 1 - Creative economy as an umbrella concept to the right to the city and social
inclusion ... 4
Figure 2 - From Arts to the Knowledge Economy ... 8
Figure 3 - UNCTAD classification of the creative industries ... 9
Figure 4 - The right to the city components ... 16
Figure 5 - Exploratory and descriptive mixed methods design MAPL ... 26
Figure 6 - Participants of the semi-structured interviews ... 28
Figure 7 - Participants of the survey ... 29
Figure 8 - Conceptual Scheme ... 32
Figure 9 - Façade of the MAPL in 2005 ... 35
Figure 10 - The inside of the MAPL in 2005 ... 36
Figure 11 - The MAPL seen from outside in 2011 ... 37
Figure 12 - The MAPL seen from the inside in 2011 ... 37
Figure 13 - Book loaks before and after the implementation of the self-checkout totems and the 24 hours opening ... 43
Figure 14 - Concert and discussion about country music, musical instruments and history in Brazil ... 45
Figure 15 - Wheelchair accesses ... 46
Figure 16 - Interpreter for the deaf and hard of hearing at a dramatic poem recitation ... 46
Figure 17 - Children interacting with the MAPL's new children's section ... 47
Figure 18 - Storytelling for children ... 48
Figure 19 - Design of the Yellow Flower project ... 48
Figure 20 - Pitshou Sambay, refugee from Congo ... 50
Figure 21 - Nana Mensa, refugee from Ghana ... 50
Figure 22 - Library cards drawn by children ... 54
Figure 23 - Miolos Fair and a banner that reads "MAPL a creative island" ... 57
Figure 24 - Miolos Fair happening inside the MAPL ... 58
Figure 25 - Age of MAPL Users ... 61
Figure 26 - Gender of MAPL Users ... 62
Figure 27 - Religion of MAPL Users ... 62
Figure 28 - Map of São Paulo's city sub-regions ... 63
Figure 29 - The sub-regions where MAPL Users live ... 64
Figure 30 - Educational level of MAPL Users ... 65
Figure 31 - Race of MAPL Users ... 65
Figure 32 - Type of residency of MAPL Users ... 66
Figure 33 - Monthly household income of MAPL Users ... 67
Figure 34 - Occupation of MAPL Users ... 67
Figure 35 - Frequency of visits to the MAPL ... 68
Figure 36 - Period of time that MAPL users have been visiting the Library ... 69
Figure 37 - Attendance variation inside the MAPL's walk-in library per year ... 70
Figure 39 - Time of the visits to the MAPL ... 71
Figure 40 - Reasons to visit the MAPL ... 71
Figure 41 - How do Users of the MAPL started visiting the Library ... 73
Figure 42 - Ownership of a MAPL library card ... 74
Figure 43 - What Users think of the MAPL ... 77
Figure 44 - What Users think of the MAPL ... 80
Figure 45 - What Users think of the MAPL ... 82
Acknowledgments
In conducting following research master thesis, there are a number of people who helped me along the way. I would like to start off by thanking my parents Sheila and Paulo who have always believed and encouraged me to do what I felt passionate about, regardless of what it was. None of this would have been possible without their love and support. I would also like to thank my brother Pedro - who throughout life has challenged me in various levels – and my grandparents, with whom I have lived with and whose unconditional love has always given me strength to keep on going. I would like to thank my boyfriend Rodrigo, who has been kind and patient enough to support me on this long journey overseas.
Next, I would like to thank my student colleagues and friends, who have accompanied me throughout this master and made me reflect and reconsider various academic as well as personal matters. More specifically, I would like to thank Lisa and Paulina, who from the very beginning has been my sister and right hand in this endeavor. Through our ups and downs, we have created a loving and caring bond that has been
tirandoflechas and that I’m certainly keeping throughout life. I would also like to thank
Adam and Margarita for all the laughter and joyful moments and for turning an apartment into a home.
Moreover, I cannot understate the importance of the support and contribution of my supervisor Courtney Vegelin, who has not only guided me thought this research, but has also played an essential and inspiring role in shaping me as a researcher and whom from the very beginning supported me on researching creative economy initiatives and bring a novel approach towards development despite all of its drawbacks. I would also like to thank our programme director Michaela Hordijk, who has very passionately taught us and followed students so carefully and closely through the whole masters and whom I will have the privilege to have as a second reader.
Finally, I would like to thank all of the staff of the Mário de Andrade Public Library: Luiz Bagolin, Tarcila, Fabrício, Kátia, Paulinho, Bruno and everyone who welcomed and helped me through out my field research, granting me access and most importantly, being inspiring human beings. It was a great pleasure working with you. I also want to thank everyone who took their time to participate on my research by answering the survey or the interviews. I would also like to give a special thanks to all the refugees I’ve met at the MAPL, especially Assosso, whose happiness and will power are great sources of motivation for me to keep writing this thesis.
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1 Introduction
São Paulo’s city center has been home for my family for the past 60 years. Thus it has been a constant and integral part of my family’s recent history. The way it has changed throughout the years has always intrigued me, particularly during the past five years when it has also been my own home.
One of the most emblematic institutions of the city center is the Mário de Andrade Public Library (‘MAPL’, Biblioteca Mário de Andrade). It was founded in 1926 and since then it underwent multiple transformations (Andrade, 2010). Rocha and Bizello (2011) argue that a public library is not an institution that is isolated from its social context and that beyond its historical background, it is also important to understand its cultural and political dimensions. Therefore, the history of a public library reflects the history of the community in which it is situated, so that any interpretation of a library’s role has to include considerations about its society. Accordingly, studying a public library in São Paulo may result in a deeper understanding of its social function as well as of the society in which it is found.
This research aims to present a micro-scale approach underpinning bigger questions relating to urban development issues. It considers a single location, the second biggest library in Latin America, which has the potential to expose and highlight ways in which a public institution can tackle a variety of social issues while promoting the right to the
city. The research uses an innovative approach towards urban development and discusses the
contemporary theory of creative economy. Significant challenges can arise when using novel theories that still lack thorough practical validation. However, in this instance, it is done with the belief that one should not refrain from something simply because it is new, but instead explore it with curiosity to better understand it, and contribute to the extent of one’s possibilities.
This research explores the intersection between the MAPL set in the context of the revitalization of São Paulo’s city center, and the way in which the modernization of the library relate to the notions of creative economy, right to the city and social inclusion. It is important to note that creative economy includes not only the possibility of employment and generation of wealth, but also the opportunity of promoting other social benefits such as: encouragement of critical thinking, empowerment of women and youth, respect for diversity and social inclusion (United Nations/UNDP/UNESCO, 2013: 38).
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The research goal is to understand how a creative economy initiative can tackle
social exclusion and foster the right to the city. This is done by exploring each of these
concepts through a case study of the MAPL. In order to do so, it begins by underpinning the theoretical framework, namely, the right to the city, creative economy and social inclusion, which are presented in the second chapter.
The third chapter outlines the research design employed in this thesis. It is followed by the research context, addressed in chapter four, which describes the context of the MAPL. Chapter five regard the empirical data concerning the dynamics in which the library operates, specifically focusing on its modernization, and chapter six focuses on users’ perceptions of the institution. The chapters are structured so as to enable the reader to better follow the natural continuation between: library dynamics as a creative economy initiative, its modernization, how it works in practice, and the user’s perceptions. Finally, chapter seven proposes a final discussion, followed by conclusions drawn in chapter eight.
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2 Theoretical Framework
2.1 Introduction of chapter
The literature on the right to the city, creative economy and social inclusion shows that much can be attained from combing the three. While the right to the city and social inclusion are concepts that have been extensively studied and debated, the notion of creative economy is more recent and thus often lacks the same depth of theoretical precision and definition. Nevertheless, these theories present a convergence of interests that can effectively help to examine what is happening at the Mário de Andrade Public Library, thus all three are included in this study’s theoretical framework.
The theoretical concepts brought together in this thesis are not traditionally studied together, even though, it is possible to identify several points where they meet in literature. This thesis will argue that the concept of creative economy can be used as a springboard to achieve the goals of the right to the city and social inclusion. The three theories also directly convene with the ‘capabilities approach’ developed by Sen (2000a). The debate explored in this theoretical framework aims to elucidate the meeting points of the theories. The debate also serves as a meaningful and inspiring way to understand what is happening empirically at the MAPL, how it relates back to relevant literature and whether policy makers should pay closer attention to these matters.
The notion of creative economy is primarily based on cultural heritage and traditions, so fostering it in order to preserve and promote cultural diversity is of intrinsic importance to all of humankind. The theory is especially relevant for developing nations to advance policies that support creative economy, considering that it contributes, among others, to: (a) empowering women and youth; (b) creating jobs; and (c) addressing the challenges of
social inclusion (United Nations/UNDP/UNESCO, 2013: 38).
The right to the city concept is viewed as a tool to further rights and political freedoms, while also demanding an enhancement of city inhabitants’ conditions; in essence a mechanism to demand rights and improvements from government (Brown, 2013). Social
inclusion is addressed in opposition to social exclusion, and is understood as the necessity to
tackle social exclusion. The theory will also discuss the multi-dimensionality of poverty and relate it to the ‘capabilities approach’ proposed by Sen (2000b).
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The benefits that the creative economy can foster directly interact with the elements of social justice proposed by the right to the city and social inclusion. This is especially apparent when analyzing the consistent use of similar vocabulary among the theories. Moreover, there are identifiable aspects of the creative economy, such as (a) nurturing the participation and expression of people in the public and political spheres; (b) encouraging awareness of social security and identity; and (c) promoting critical thinking; as argued by Feria, 2008; Gil, 2008 which are also structural factors that can play an important role in achieving the right to the city and social inclusion. This thesis will demonstrate that the MAPL can act as a creative economy actor and how it can promote the right to the city and social inclusion (figure 1).
Figure 1 - Creative economy as an umbrella concept to the right to the city and social inclusion
Source: Self-made
This section underpins the theoretical debate that arises from the empirical study of the Mario de Andrade Public Library. The theoretical framework is divided into three main sections. The first to be discussed is the creative economy right to the city. As well as outlining its historical background, the chapter also emphasizes its relevance for development studies and discusses the possibilities of interaction with the right to the city and social
inclusion. Secondly, the concept of the right to the city is explored. The chapter describes
how the concept was formulated, its claims in terms of boosting social justice and how it evolved in different parts of the world. Finally, social inclusion is discussed, a concept that is pertinent to both of the aforementioned theories.
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2.2 Creative Economy
The creative economy is a developing concept that is grounded in creative assets and the potential to create development and economic growth. It is argued that it can foster human development, social inclusion, cultural diversity, and encourage job creation, income generation and export earnings. It highlights social, cultural and economic features that interact with intellectual property, technology and tourism (Towse, 2011; Reis, 2008; United Nations/UNDP/UNESCO, 2013). According to Towse (2011:120): “It is a feasible development option calling for innovative multidisciplinary policy responses and inter-ministerial action”.
The literature on creative economies focuses on either: (a) the originalities and capacitation of creative economy workers (Florida, 2003; Seltzer and Bentley, 1999); or (b) the effects that creative industries can have on economic dynamics (Howkins, 2002; Caves, 2000). The concept allows various interpretations, this promotes numerous debates among academics and experts (Reis, 2008; United Nations/UNDP/UNESCO, 2013; Flew, 2012, Galloway and Dunlop, 2007).
The concept of the creative economy is recent and only emerged in 1994 in Australia (United Nations/UNDP/UNESCO, 2013). Thus, it still contains many unsolved ends that scholars and policy makers will still have to debate over and unveil. Despite all its limitations, the concept is used in this dissertation because it helps to evaluate the object of research (the MAPL) and the ways in which it has been operating. The notion of creative
economy has been increasingly used in policy papers and decision-making processes in Brazil
(Ministério da Cultura, 2011); its opportunities and limitations will be further discussed in the following paragraphs.
John Howkins (2002) defines the creative economy as the potential to produce intellectual property rights, copyrights, patents and industrial design. This view makes it difficult to determine what is not part of the creative economy in the 21st century and how it would be differentiated from the knowledge economy (Reis, 2008). Galloway and Dunlop (2007) also argue that this raises issues in defining what is not the creative economy and how it can be distinguished from the cultural and the knowledge economy1.
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Richard Caves (2000) understands the creative industries to be related to culture, arts and entertainment in general. Throsby (2001) explains it as cultural services and products that comprise: (a) creativity as a source of production; (b) symbolic value; and (c) intellectual property value.
2.2.1 The various layers of the concept of creative economy
As their core concepts are broad and complex, the creative economies bring with them an assortment of questions (Reis, 2008). Along with other associated concepts, it is possible to identify at least two different themes of this research: (a) creative industries and (b) creative
economies. These are often confused and used interchangeably. However, each label holds a
different analytical position that sparks frequent debates among academics and experts (United Nations/UNDP/UNESCO, 2013; Reis, 2008; Flew, 2012).
In the 1990s, the term creative industry was popularized in Australia, followed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom. The concept derived from the idea of cultural industry. Scholars and policy makers typically use the term creative
industry to address a broader productive set than the cultural industry. On the one hand, it
includes services and goods produced by the cultural industries, such as writing, music, fashion, art, design and media industries. On the other hand, it comprises services and goods that are dependent on innovation, incorporating research and software development (United Nations/UNDP/UNESCO, 2013).
The creative economy, however, goes beyond the creative industries (as in figure 2) and includes the impact of goods and services in different economic sectors as well as the relationship established between them, creating the opportunity for job creations and social, economic and political participation (Hartley, 2005; United Nations/UNDP/UNESCO, 2013; Flew, 2012; British Council, 2010). Thus, it provokes and incorporates deeper social, political, educational, organizational and economic changes (Reis, 2008). Furthermore, “the creative industries are not only economically valuable per se, but they also catalyze and add intangible values to other types of process organization, economic relations and dynamics of different sectors” (Ibid:25).
Wilson (2010) argues that creativity has become a buzzword and has been set as a way of welcoming new paradigms that have the potential to rescue human kind from its present financial disorder. Florida (2003), who is known as one of the key authors regarding
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new significance, considers that only the so-called ‘creative class2’ would have the means to make a creative economy prosper. Namely, he debates that the new ideas and knowledge of the ‘creative class’ have become the leading source of economic production and thus, they are the ones who need to be attracted to a particular location to promote local development (Florida, 2003; Seltzer and Bentley, 1999).
To Wilson (2010), the belief that only a few people are capable of being creative is a major drawback. He argues that it is necessary to closely observe the intrinsic ‘social nature of creativity’, which flourishes spontaneously at the edge of things, between the cracks. Thus, creativity should not be considered as an asset for those who already have visibility within the creative industries. Instead, it is necessary to recognize that each and every individual has the potential to be creative, especially vulnerable and marginalized groups. Therefore, cultural policy – and creative economy initiatives - should not be exclusively concerned with attracting people of the ‘creative class’, but should have a central concern in “supporting and enabling the creative potential in all of us” (Ibid:368).
The creative economy grounds itself on creative assets that can potentially contribute to socioeconomic growth. It has the potential of instigating not only economic growth, earnings through exports and the creation of new job positions, but also human development, cultural diversity and social inclusion. As it encompasses social, economic, cultural and technological aspects, the creative economy intertwines with the broader economy at its micro and macro level. Having creativity instead of capital as its driving force, the creative economy presents itself as a viable development strategy for developing countries (Santos-Duisenberg, 2008).
Galloway and Dunlop (2007) take a more precautious and not so optimistic approach on the matter and claim that:
[P]lacing cultural activities within the existing creative industries/knowledge economy framework buries this vital cultural policy objective, and misses the point about the important public benefits provided by culture. Public support for culture simply recognizes that it provides public benefits that cannot be captured through markets, and the currently fashionable way of viewing the cultural sector as part of the wider creative economy simply subsumes it within an economic agenda to which it is ill-suited (Ibid: 29).
Hence, one could argue that it might be risky to place all bets on the market in order to foster the benefits that Santos-Duisenberg (2008) argues the creative economy can propitiate.
2 The “creative class” is a concept coined by Florida (2003) and encompasses workers whose jobs are mostly based on the creative industries. The author considers them to be a main driving force on the economic market.
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Figure 2 - From Arts to the Knowledge Economy
Source: adapted from BRITISH COUNCIL (2011).
Throsby (2001) argues that the heart of the creative economy encompasses creative arts like dance, theater, crafts, visual arts, music, as well as newer platforms, such as multi-media and videos. Bearing this in mind, Throsby (2001) claims that its main purpose is to produce and/or transmit meaning regarding the moral, spiritual and/or intellectual reasoning of individuals as well as norms, values and beliefs of groups in society. There might be controversy on whether productions do achieve such an end, but its central output is to ‘communicate meaning’ (Galloway and Dunlop, 2007:22). Therefore, the creative
economy is concerned with generating symbolic value, which is not a characteristic of the
knowledge economy. As such, this dissertation limits itself to the notion of the creative
economy instead of going all the way to the knowledge economy.
2.2.2 Potentials and limitations
Santos-Duisenberg (2008) claims that the creative economy is omnipresent in people’s lives, being present in work, education and entertainment. It also has a timeless appeal, as it can bring together traditional knowledge with contemporary technology. Furthermore, people’s cultural values along with their ethnical and historical formation, which are the substance of cultural diversity, are key to overcome the uniformity that prevails in taste and style led by the media (Ibid).
Oakley (2006), on the other hand has an opposing view, suggesting that:
The particular mix of cultural, economic and social assumptions buried in the terms ‘creativity’, now need to be unpicked and critically examined if we are to progress either in economically developing the creative industries, or in understanding the role of creative activities in society more generally (Ibid:271).
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She goes further debating that her argument is not a request to undermine the notion of the creative economy, but instead, it aims at highlighting by whom and how this concept will be pushed forward (Ibid). Hence, when Santos-Duisenberg (2008) claims that
creative economy is omnipresent, and there is a specific policy that encourages creative economy initiatives, one could argue that the lack of precision gives leverage to any type of
industry who may want to benefit from such policy, highlighting the importance to “re-think the boundaries of the creative economy and the particular role and nature of creativity as a primary input in this context” (Wilson, 2010:368).
Despite the different definitions, interpretations and the tangible and intangible impacts that a creative economy may have on different social, political, educational and economic sectors, as highlighted by Reis (2008), UNCTAD has created a scheme that classifies the creative industries and divides them in four main groups, namely: heritage, arts,
media and functional creations (figure 3). It is worth mentioning that the image highlights the
creative industries, while the aspects of the creative economy would depend on the relationship and interaction between the creative industries.
Figure 3 - UNCTAD classification of the creative industries
Source: UNCTAD, 2008.
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In figure 3, libraries are categorized as part of cultural sites (heritage), closely interlinking with the publishing and printed media. Heritage encompasses various forms of cultural capital that embody the historical, cultural and social dimensions of a community (Benhamou, 2011). As will be demonstrated later (chapter 5), the MAPL, in its recent new conceptualization, also dialogues with other creative industries, such as traditional and
cultural expressions, performing arts, audiovisuals, creative services and visual arts. Thus, it
will be explained that the MAPL, can also be viewed as a genuine creative economy initiative, as it catalyzes and adds tangible and intangible value to a myriad of other sectors apart from heritage.
2.2.3 Creative economy and public policy
When it comes to policy making, there is an intrinsic issue with the creative economy approach. Even if its symbolic value is the main differentiator compared to the knowledge economy, the concepts (cultural industry, cultural economy, creative industry and creative
economy) are often used as synonyms in policy papers and official definitions, making no
real distinction between them and encompassing any sort of creative activity (Galloway and Dunlop, 2007). The authors argue that public policy needs to pragmatically support culture and in order to do so, it is necessary for scholars and policy makers to at least clarify the definition and terminological confusion present in the cultural/creative industry/economy debate. It is also necessary to acknowledge that cultural creativity is distinct from general
creativity in order to pragmatically foster the desired type of policy. They state:
[O]ne has to ask whether this view of creativity also sits at the heart of government cultural policy, and not just economic policy. If not, then there appears to be an inconsistency and irrationality. And if so, then what are the implications for public support of the cultural sector? Is the creative industries agenda just another passing fad of government, one from which parts of the cultural sector may derive benefits or is it part of a longer term strategy to undermine the ideological basis for state cultural support? (Ibid: 29).
This raises real concerns regarding the cultural aspects of the creative economy and the tangible and intangible benefits that it may create. It highlights the importance of closely examining each case in order to understand if the policy is not being subverted into a longer-term strategy to abdicate investments in the cultural sector.
Creative activities, especially when tied to arts or cultural-traditional events, can foster the inclusion of minorities that are usually kept apart from other social activities, thereby facilitating participation. It has the possibility of absorbing talented and marginalized youth that often engage with informal creative activities. Moreover, women customarily participate actively in the production of arts and handcrafts. Likewise, they represent a large
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percentage of the work force organizing cultural activities. Thus, the creative economy also serves as a way of promoting gender equality in the job market. It has a social inclusion function in which people from various backgrounds and preferences can take part, sometimes as producers, but always, at some point, as consumers of a diversity of creative products and services (Santos-Duisenberg, 2008).
Overall, the notion of creative economy mostly concerns a normative concept based morals and outcomes. In this research, in order to make it more analytical, the notion of a creative economy will be analyzed with the focus in (a) the possibilities of generating symbolic value; (b) the recognition of creative processes and ideas; and (c) the possibilities of creating connections among creative industries.
It is possible to identify that the same sort of vocabulary concerning the notion of
creative economy is also shared in discussions about the right to the city and social inclusion,
hence why the theoretical debate presented in this dissertation jumps from one topic to the other. Furthermore, the concept of the creative economy involves a dialogue with the already existing hegemonic capitalistic system, in accordance with the approach to the right to the
city in the Global South, as it will be further discussed in the upcoming sub-section.
2.2 Right to the city
In 1968, shortly before student riots in Paris, Henri Lefebvre coined the term right to the city. It was originally formulated as the right to a “renewed centrality, to places of encounter and exchange, to life rhythms and time uses” (Lefebvre, 1996[1968]:179). It advocated the right for urban inhabitants to a fully lived life and highlighted that urban spaces should be organized by use values, often overstepped by exchange values in a realm conquered by capitalist globalization (He, 2015). In short, Lefebvre argued that urban space should not be commoditized in exchange for money (exchange values). Instead, it should regard one’s existence, seeking and guaranteeing one’s own objectives in the city (Santos Jr., 2014).
In Lefevbre’s conceptualization, he “does not see the right to the city as an incremental addition to existing liberal-democratic rights. He sees it as an essential element of a wider political struggle for revolution” (Purcel, 2013:142). Lefebvre (1996[1968]) claims that the use value of urban spaces as hubs of social, political and cultural life are under degradation due to trade and industrialization processes. This generates exchange value that
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lead to the “commodification of urban property and assets which excludes many from the benefits of urban life” (Brown, 2013).
Since its conception, the right to the city has been largely studied and reinterpreted in academia, as well as employed by policy makers and urban social movements. The academic debates regarding the right to the city tended to view it as a fight against the nature of capitalism (Brown, 2013). The central assumption in this theory is that the construction of urban spaces replicates social injustice created by the hegemonic capitalistic system (Fainstein 1996: 26). Harvey (1973) integrated Lefevbre’s concepts in his considerations on urban space and social justice, defining the term as a collective right to the autonomous and democratic management of urban resources. These should be grounded on the just distribution of opportunities among social classes based on the following criteria: “need, contribution to common good, and merit” (Ibid:101). It is worth mentioning that for Harvey (1973: 107), merit concerns the individual’s security and the democratic access to resources needed to "compensate for the degree of social and natural environmental difficulty". This can be extended to neighborhoods and specific groups. In his work, the term is not related to the individual’s worth (Ibid).
Having large resonance amid policy makers and activists, the idea of the right to
the city also filtered to other parts of the world. Castells (1977) takes into consideration the
political and cultural elements of the Global South and proposes a comparative perspective concerning cities of Europe and South America. The author further develops his idea of the
right to the city by presenting a normative meaning for urban social movements, where high
levels of citizen action can lead to: (a) radical changes in the outcomes of the political arena; (b) radical changes in political powers; and/or (c) the redefinition and significance of the urban system (Ibid). Lately, the notion of the right to the city has been increasingly used in debates regarding urban public space, gentrification, housing, social exclusion, and immigration (He, 2015).
Besides being a political ideal, the right to the city became more of a political/working slogan for a global urban revolution. It empowered and inspired various urban social movements worldwide by linking them on an international scale and exposing the links between marginalization, social (in)justice and urbanization (Harvey, 2008). It provided an opportunity to bring together the claims and the ambitions of the deprived and dissatisfied inhabitants of a city (Mayer, 2009). Nevertheless, it is arguable to the same extent that the slogan of the right to the city which was useful in spreading such popular ideas, also
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belittled its real objective: leaving aside all of its reformists demands and making the term simply a cry for a more humanistic city (Lopes de Souza, 2010).
Marcuse (2009) suggests an approach to action claiming that the main issues of an urban space should be exposed, proposed and politicized in order to advance its implementation as a right. Many other efforts have been made in order to transfer the right to
the city’s theory into practice (Brown, 2013; He, 2015). However, numerous controversies
and disagreements emerged among activists, policy makers, international initiatives and academics. Questions of whose rights; what rights; and what city also arose (Ibid). Such questions shape the its development as a concept and also dictate both its application and future prospects. The answers to these questions play an important role in fully comprehending the right to the city as both a political slogan and a critical urban theory (He, 2015).
2.2.1 Whose rights?
The question of whose right to the city is a complex one, and its answer can foster its theoretical and practical implementation (Marcuse, 2009). There is a belief between activists and academics that the right to the city holds in itself the possibility to foster social inclusion, which can potentially benefit urban habitants as a whole (He, 2015). Thus, a wider notion of citizenship is embedded in theories of the right to the city: “It has been widely recognized that one’s everyday experience of inhabiting the city rather than one’s nation-state citizenship constitutes the substantive and meaningful citizenship” (He, 2015: 674).
Traditionally, formal citizenship is defined by each nation-state. Citizens of a place are eligible to rights and duties that are bounded accordingly to ones place of residency (Dikeç and Gilbert, 2002). They are entitled to rights, such as political participation and welfare, as well as they are expected to accomplish other obligations, as paying taxes. The ways in which those rights and obligations will be played out will depend on each nation-state with sovereignty to make decisions. Substantive citizenship, however, concerns the individual’s abilities to act and be respected. It is shaped by the circumstances in a society that allows individuals to act with relative autonomy, expressing and acting upon political ideas (Ibid). Substantive democratic practice, thus, has been a concern of scholars:
Formal membership in the nation-state is increasingly neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for substantive citizenship. That it is not sufficient is obvious for many poor citizens who have formal membership in the state but who are excluded in fact or law from enjoying the rights to citizenship and participating effectively in its organization. This condition also applies to citizens of all classes who find that their preferences for a desirable or proper form of life [...] are not
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adequately embodied in the national-public sphere of rights even though the communities in which they live may overwhelmingly approve them (Holston and Appadurai, 1996)
This position reflects to the idea that the scope of a formal citizenship that relies in formal and territorial stands are unsuccessful into taking the social relations of power as well as urban politics into account. Numerous groups often composed by the urban poor, such as migrants, workers of the informal economy, commuters who travel to work daily, illegal immigrants and refugees are not taken into account by the government. Thus, it is necessary to broaden the concept of citizenship and frame it in a more inclusive manner (Dikeç and Gilbert, 2002).
According to Harvey (2008), by offering a new model of citizenship that embraces the shared spaces, social ethics and heterogenic urban areas, Lefevbre’s innovative ideas on the right to the city aim to challenge the political and social urban structures of the past century and are quite different than the nation-state’s kind of citizenship. Rather than residing, Lefebvre proposes that citizenship ought to be attained through democratic practices and civic participation (Ibid).
2.2.2 What rights?
There has been some flexibility in considering social practices of the right to the city. On one level, these regard economical and social rights, such as the right to natural resources, transportation and housing. However, they can also be related to communal goods such as culture, community and tradition. This broad and all-encompassing definition is not entirely negative (He, 2015). According to Michel and Heynen (2009), the breadth of the right to the
city is actually its greatest value. They claim that:
The value of the concept of a right to the city is precisely its capaciousness. The fact that it can signify not only a right to habitat (as the UN conferences have largely interpreted it) or La Fête (the ability to participate in the spectacle and shape it to new ends, a primary concern of Lefebvre), but also a right to the oeuvre (the ability to participate in the work and the making of the city) and the right to urban life (which is to say the right to be part of the city - to be present, to be). This capaciousness is valuable because it allows for solidarity across political struggles while at the same time focusing attention on the most basic conditions of survivability, the possibility to inhabit, to live (Ibid: 616).
The right to the city is then a collective, rather than only individualist, set of rights. It goes beyond the legal sense of rights and incorporates morality as well. Thus, its claim regards social justice not only within the existing legal framework, but also on a “higher moral plane that claims a better system in which the demands can be fully and entirely met” (Marcuse, 2009:193). In a similar vein, Harvey (2003: 939) claims that the right
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to the city does not only regard the ‘right of access to what already exists’, but also the right
to make changes accordingly to our own desires. Furthermore, Douglass and Friedmann (1998) summarize such fundamental morals in three interconnected concepts: the struggle to the right of speaking freely, the right to be different and the right to human flourishing. Such ideas also relate to Lefevbre’s idea of a fully realized life (He, 2015).
In other words, the right to the city generally regards two key rights: appropriation and participation. The first concerns the right of inhabitants to access and use urban space. The second regards the power and opportunity that city inhabitants should have to transform and redefine urban space (Ibid).
2.2.3 What city?
In Lefebvre’s conceptualization of the right to the city, he highlights that the demands do not only concern the right to an already existing city, but those to a future city that is not necessarily regarded as a city in its convectional sense, but rather a “place in an urban society in which the hierarchical distinction between the city and the country has disappeared” (Marcuse, 2009:193)
Furthermore, any public realm has a spatial and political function that should not be underestimated. It has the possibility of giving ground for citizen involvement in the public life of common spaces. The dynamics and rationality of public life in common spaces are important assets that can secure its protection. “Public spaces have the capacity to promote active citizenry” (Yeo and Heng, 2013: 723).
He (2015) argues that although there are some intrinsic differences in the various adaptations of the notion of the right to the city, it is possible to highlight some value communalities between the views of academics, activists and policy makers. Fundamentally, by looking beyond the physical territory of a city, the right to the city questions social relations and power structures that regulate the daily lives and experiences of urban inhabitants. Overall, it is possible to identify:
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Figure 4 - The right to the city components
Source: Pólis Institute (2016:19).
2.2.4 Implementation: Global North and Global South
Even though the notion of the right to the city has been formulated in the late 1960s, the discussion on how to apply it in practice is still largely ongoing among scholars, academics, social activists and international initiatives. Moreover, the concept has evolved differently in various parts of the world (Mayer, 2009). Mayer (2009:363) reveals how the concept has developed in the past decades and argues that it evolved and converged quite similarly among countries in the Global North. If in the 1970s the term was largely used as a form of protest against urban renewal, in the 1980s it problematized neoliberalism and austerity policies. Around the 1990s, it raised concerns with ‘local economic development’, whereas in the post 2000s it stressed the injustices in property and financial markets (Ibid). Thus, in the so-called Global North, debates on urban social movements have advanced as a fight to contrast prevailing development paradigms (Brown, 2013).
In the Global South, the concept has evolved in a different direction. Here urban social movements have been linked to the fight on the themes of human rights and political freedoms, as well as the struggle to find access to dependable livelihoods, clean water and
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shelter (Ibid). Although the full realization of such access rights could significantly improve city inhabitants’ conditions, they regard improvements in a city that already exists and a system that is already established, unlike what is stipulated in the Global North (Mayer, 2009).
[…] unlike the Lefebvrian notion of the right to the city, this institutionalized set of rights boils down to claims for inclusion in the current system as it exists, it does not aim at transforming the existing system—and in that process ourselves. The demands for rights as enumerated merely target particular aspects of neoliberal policy, for example, in combating poverty, but not the underlying economic policies, which systematically produce poverty and exclusion (Ibid:396)
Brown (2013) argues that in order to attain a substantial change, the notion of the
right to the city needs go beyond being a theory of opposition to capitalism. Furthermore, the
experiences of the Global South are considerably different to those of the Global North. The author goes further to argue that even if the first ideas on the right to the city considered real confrontation necessary in order to achieve substantial change, it is important to foresee the outcomes of such violent struggles and take into consideration the decades often necessary for these to heal (Ibid).
Delgadillo Polanco (2012:123) argues that the theoretical debate concerning the
right to the city takes two main stances: (a) a pragmatic viewpoint that considers furthering
the legal recognition of the right to the city, considering it an instrument to claim this right from the Government, furthering the already existing rights; and (b) an utopian perspective in which the right to the city entails: (1) an ambition that aims at building another world, an alternative society and city that are fair, equitable and inclusive; and (2) an instrument for strategic collective action to attain profound political, economical and social changes. The first position (a) regards a right that can be achieved through – and is compatible with – the global hegemonic economic system and the representative democracies. The second (b) is based on the notion that, by definition, the right to the city is incompatible with neoliberal capitalism (Ibid; He, 2015; Brown, 2013; Meyer, 2009).
In other words, the main differences between the evolvement of the right to the
city is that whereas in the Global North there is a will to subvert the capitalist system, in the
Global South the concept evolved in a sort of dialogue between structure and agency so the concept started to be understood as a way of negotiating the urban space (Brown, 2013; He, 2015; Meyer, 2009).
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2.2.5 The right to the city in Latin America
The increase of urban population worldwide highlights the relevance of urban laws in the construction of more equitable urban spaces. Since the 1970s, Latin America has become one of the world’s most urbanized regions and approximately 75% of its population lives in cities; in Brazil this number rises to 83% (Fernandes, 2007). The process of rapid social-economic development that prompted urbanization in the region, formed cities with great inequalities and contributed to processes of “social exclusion, spatial segregation and environmental degradation” (Ibid:203).
In a number of South American countries, such as Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Ecuador, the right to the city has been implemented in modern legislation in order to be preserved. This allows one to witness the different applicability of the term in the Global South and how the right to the city ‘achieved legitimacy through instruments of the state’ (Brown, 2013:962). Thus, whereas the right to the city in the Global North encompasses a complete revolution against the capitalistic system and does not entail any sort of dialogue with it, the concept in the Global South has been incorporated into the existing system as a collective right for the city’s inhabitants. In this research, the right to the city is intended as means for social justice as it has been used most commonly in the Global South.
Inspired by Henri Lefebvre’s work, social-legal movements in Latin America have pushed forward attempts to materialize the right to the city not only as a social-political concept, but also as a legal right (Fernandes, 2007). In 1997, Colombia approved the Law no. 388/1997, which actualized the legal aspect of the right to the city. In 2001, Brazil followed by passing Law no. 10.257/2001 that created the City Statute, a legal framework that formally recognized the right to the city as a collective right in the country (Ibid). In 2010, Mexico also framed the right to the city as a legal right and claimed that the city is a construction, a product of a social process. Mexican law states that a city is a place of encounters, human contemplation and exchange, as well as a space of political, economic and social diversity (Delgadillo Polanco, 2012). It is framed in the Mexican right to the city that there should be real citizen participation in policy making and urban management, thus strengthening the social fabric and the exercise of citizenship, while encouraging an inclusive, equitable and supportive urban economy (Ibid).
Fernandes (2007) argues that in Brazil, the rise of the politicization of urban law has given space to greater popular participation, especially in the fight for collective rights and social interests, making the country become a living laboratory for new strategies of
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direct democracy and local governance. However, the Brazilian experience is inconsistent, as what is set in this legal framework is not always put into practice (Guimarães, 2015). There is still a gap regarding inequalities, evident spatial segregation and social exclusion (Ibid). Guimarães (2015:731) poses the question: “[H]ow to explain so much sophistication in the legal apparatuses and, at the same time, such a mismatch with reality?”
Fernandes (2007) concludes that
[…] The materialization of the possibilities of the new legal-urban order in the region will always depend on several socio-economic and institutional factors, national and global, but above all it will require renewed social mobilization in urban areas. In the last analysis, however, the future of the new law will fundamentally depend on the wide mobilization of Brazilian society, within and without the state apparatus, so as to effect Lefebvre’s long-claimed ‘right to the city’ (Fernandes, 2007: 218)
Thus, the importance of this research is to shed light on the interaction and synergy of a public library with its users, understanding whether and how, in this particular setting, their right to the city happens in practice.
2.4 Social Inclusion
Many of the social benefits of the concept of right to the city and creative economy boil down to notions of social inclusion. This will be especially relevant to analyze if the Mário de Andrade Public Library is by any means promoting some level of social inclusion to its users. Therefore, given its relevance, it will be addressed in some detail in this sub-section. It is important to note that social inclusion here will be used in contrast to social exclusion, that is,
social inclusion will be explored in this study as a way of tackling social exclusion.
Scholars have been increasingly studying matters of social inclusion/exclusion (Haan, 1998; Kowarick, 2003; Sen, 2000b; Lesbaupin, 2000; Alvino-Borba and Mata-Lima, 2011). The concept was coined in 1974 by Rene Lenoir, and is known to encompass a variety of social economic issues. In its original formulation, apart from the poor, it also encompassed the handicapped, elderly, suicidal, substance abusers and abused children. After it gained popularity in the 1980s, the term exclusion began to be used to refer to the new emerging social issues, such as unemployment, public squalor, ghettoization and the major transformations that were happening in family life. The issue of social exclusion exists in all countries and particularly concerns social aspects of life (Lesbaupin, 2000; Haan, 1998).
The term social exclusion became widely popular and started to appear in policy and official documents. In the 1980s, the European Union committed to fight against social
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exclusion, thus, fostering social inclusion (Haan, 1998). The concept of social exclusion does
not describe a new reality and it is not the only concept that refers to deprivation. However, it does focus on the central aspects of deprivation, namely its multi-dimensional and social aspects (Ibid), which will be further explored towards the end of this sub-section.
In general terms, social exclusion is concerned with the links among individuals and a variety of networks of support, i.e. relational issues; whereas poverty is concerned with matters of distribution (Sandell, 1998). By focusing on relational matters, social exclusion regards “the breakdown of the links between an individual and their family, friends, community and state services and institutions.” (Sandell, 1998: 404).
Many scholars and experts consider the concept of social exclusion to be more useful than the notion of poverty (Ibid). Haan (1998) argues that the popularization of social
exclusion as opposed to poverty has to do with the association of the latter with Christian
charity, the French’s ancient regime and utilitarian liberalism. It denominated the division of the social fabric and it started being used in reference to a failure of the state. Furthermore,
social exclusion focuses on a dynamic process and includes a broader assortment of socially
disadvantaged people. On the other hand, poverty is more of a static term that tends to have a more limited scope relating to the material wealth necessary to take part in societal activities (Sandell, 1998; Haan, 1998).
Social inclusion was one of the fundamental goals of social development (DESA,
2009). There is no single agreed definition for it, but the United Nations reports define it as:
A process by which efforts are made to ensure equal opportunities for all, regardless of their background, so that they can achieve their full potential in life. It is a multi-dimensional process aimed at creating conditions which enable full and active participation of every member of the society in all aspects of life, including civic, social, economic, and political activities, as well as participation in decision-making processes (DESA, 2009:3).
Tackling social exclusion was not only vital to addressing the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of “eradicating extreme poverty”, but it also played an important role in tackling other MDG’s, such as “universal education” and “promoting gender equality”. Social inclusion is crucial in order to proliferate the progress achieved so far, which would otherwise be limited only to some parts of the population (DESA, 2009).
Social exclusion is a process that hinders individuals from wholly participating in
every aspect of life in a society (Ibid). Thus, it consists of barriers and practices that refrain individuals from social inclusion, forcing them to be partially or entirely excluded from
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social activities and live grounded to “their social identities, such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture or language, and/or physical, economic, social disadvantages” (Ibid:3).
Social exclusion also presents itself as the abstaining of individuals from political
representation, and lack of access to social services, decent work, land and assets (Ibid). According to Aparicio (2013:1), it represents “people’s capabilities to exercise their human rights and a set of civil liberties that enable them to participate in society and to reinforce their individual and collective identity”.
Various authors that are concerned with social inclusion highlight its multi-dimensional aspect. Namely, they point out that social inclusion and exclusion include a number of domains that can act on furthering deprivations. Such domains can operate alone or in combination to produce exclusion. Various authors have presented how marginalization and disadvantages can appear in an assortment of spheres apart from the economic one (Mitchell and Shillington, 2002; Chambers, 1983). Jenson (2000:1) claims that “while an absence of economic resources may, to be sure, characterize a marginalized group, lack of knowledge, political rights and capacity, recognition and power are also factors of marginalization”.
Apart from the multi-dimensionality of the notion of social exclusion within the social, economic and political sphere, Haan (1998:26) argues that the concept involves an emphasis on the processes and relations that may cause deprivation:
Exclusion happens at each level of society. Group formation is a fundamental characteristic of human society, and this is accompanied by the exclusion of others. The concept takes us beyond mere descriptions of deprivation, and focuses attention on social relations and the processes and institutions that underlie and are part and parcel of deprivation (Haan, 1998:26).
Therefore, frequently and concomitantly, one can be excluded by a number of distinctive groups, for instance: political elites can prevent others from having legal rights; landlords can exclude one’s access to housing, minorities can be banned from conveying their identity, etc (Haan, 1998). Exclusion, then, reveals discrimination that refrains people from fully participating in society (Ibid).
Haan’s (1998) approach towards social exclusion also links with the capabilities approach developed by Sen (2000b), who believes that the concept of social exclusion reinforces – instead of competing with - the recognition of poverty as a deprivation of capabilities, this being a wider perspective on poverty. Sen (2000b) acknowledges the non-material dimensions of poverty and argues that one’s exclusion from participating in and/or having the access to opportunities is something that needs to be addressed.
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Amartya Sen (2000a) stressed that an appropriate facet of development should be understood as the enhancement of human freedom and the improvement of people’s capabilities – thus, their potential of being and doing - that can lead them to the sort of life they have reason to value.
What people can effectively achieve is influenced by economic opportunities, political liberties, social powers, and the enabling conditions of good health, basic education, and the encouragement and cultivation of initiatives. The institutional arrangements for these opportunities are also influenced by the exercise of people’s freedoms, through the liberty to participate in social choice and in the making of public decisions that impel the progress of their opportunities (Sen, 2000a: 5).
If development requires freedom of choice, then access to knowledge, information and creative content that nurtures choice are certainly pre-conditions for development (Reis, 2008). Furthermore, inclusive urban spaces that allow vivid dialogue and exchange also set the ground for promoting development as Sen (2000a) has conceived it.
The capabilities approach suggested by Sen (2000a) claims that people should be allowed to shape their own lives based on the tools and capacities accessible to them. Thus, having the means to live a life they have reason to value. The capabilities approach goes beyond having an income or economic resources and involves health as well as the liberty (political and economic) and capacity to ‘influence one’s environment’ (Mitchell and Shillington, 2002).
Rolnik (2001) argues in the same vein, claiming that the concept of social
exclusion encompasses material factors as well as social rights. It goes beyond exclusively
considering access to goods and services that can offer the fulfillment of basic needs. It also comprises representation, justice, citizenship and public safety. “It means deprivation in terms of access to a basic degree of urban life and opportunities” (Ibid:473).
Sen (2000b:45) also highlights that it is necessary to make some critical distinctions in order to clarify the scope of the social exclusion analysis. He argues that it is particularly important to make a distinction: (1) between (a) constitutive relevance of social
exclusion, that is, when exclusion is in itself a deprivation and it directly impoverishes one’s
life and/or generates indirect deprivations (e.g. being unable to participate in social life); and (b) the instrumental importance of exclusion, namely the situation in itself does not cause impoverishment of human life, but it can lead to it as a causal consequence (e.g. refraining from economic opportunities that could be beneficial to the people involved); and (2) between (a) active exclusion, that is when there is a deliberate intention to exclude (e.g. exclude permanent residents from a particular sort of benefit); and (b) passive exclusions, that
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is when there is no deliberate intention – which does not mean that there is no responsibility - of exclusion (e.g. macroeconomic circumstances that may cause job losses but have not been aimed at it). Making such distinctions, which in many cases might overlap, is relevant not only for policy response, but also for causal analysis (Ibid)
The notion of social inclusion/exclusion can effectively help to create an insightful framework for analyzing and diagnosing policies. Such a framework can be useful to both richer and poorer countries (Sen, 2000b).
The real issue is not whether the idea of “social exclusion” deserves a celebratory medal as a conceptual advance, but whether people concerned with practical measurement and public policy have reason to pay attention to the issues to which the idea helps to draw attention. The answer, I believe, is in the affirmative, despite the misgivings that the somewhat disorganized and undisciplined literature has often generated (Sen, 2000b:47).
Sen (2000b), thus, highlights the relevance of tackling social exclusion in policy making in order to advance social justice in the public realm and have a more socially inclusive society. DESA (2009) describes this as a society that overcomes the differences of class, race, gender, geography and generation, ensuring inclusion and equal opportunities for all its members. It must be grounded on cultural and religious diversity, the respect of human rights, of social justice and of the special necessities of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, as well as the rule of law and democratic participation. It aims at enhancing participation in social, civic, political and economic activities, thereby reducing inequalities and creating a tolerant and flexible society that welcomes, respects and embraces every individual.
Sandell (1998) presents that social inclusion allows a more comprehensive interpretation of the concept that concerns a dynamic process of being entirely or partially excluded, being shut out from economic, political, cultural or social systems that define the social integration of an individual in society. The author claims that the participation or organization of a cultural activity can raise an individual’s confidence, self-determination and self-esteem, giving them the opportunity to establish social relationships. It also enhances their chances of obtaining employment.
Caldeira (1996) points out that in Brazil, all social groups sense some sort of restriction and exclusion. Some people, the poorer, are clearly denied – or are restricted to - access to certain areas, goods and services and thus, the feeling of exclusion is evident. To a smaller group, the more affluent population that lives in fortified enclaves, the sensation of fear is present and restrains them to from other groups and regions identified as potentially
