Rua Pires de Almeida: performation evaluation of an urban public space

Abstract

Pires de Almeida Street: Embodied Observation of a Particular Public Space – This article is part of the research “Cognition and Place Design”: application of the enactive approach in performance evaluation of urban places. It intends to incorporate the concepts of enactive cognition proposed by Varela, Thompson and Rosch and of empathy, proposed by Thompson, to the work of Tuan, Norberg-Schulz, Lynch, Cullen, in an embodied observation carried out in a place of recognized quality in Rio de Janeiro: Pires de Almeida Street, in Laranjeiras. The main objective is to verify the applicability and the utility of embodied observation in the evaluation of an urban place and in the identification of elements, indexes and factors that generate its quality. In complement to the embodied observation, aimless walks and wanderings were carried out, by observers without prior theoretical-contextual knowledge of the place, and also the experiences by observers that already possess an experience of the place impregnated of affections and meanings. The results show up the richness of the reports that incorporate the feelings and the affections produced in the interaction among the observers, the users and the environment.