Mapographies: art, education and resistance in the production of maps with peripheral youths

Abstract

This article examines participatory cartographic methodologies developed by the Urban Mapography Studies Group (GeMAP/FAUUSP) with youth in Bororé Island and Jardim das Gaivotas, South Zone of São Paulo. It aims to discuss how artistic and educational practices articulate affective mapping and political engagement among peripheral youth, re-signifying neglected public spaces. The analysis integrates urban interventions, such as the collective creation of memory murals and landscape routes that highlight contradictions between environmental preservation and socio-spatial marginalization. Collaborative methods, including workshops on participatory cartography, emphasize the construction of local narratives translated into tactile maps and luminous projections. The methodological approach, structured in three stages — data collection, artistic production, and community sharing — prioritizes the replicability of social technologies and the valorization of non-academic knowledge. The study concludes that these practices strengthen territorial belonging, transforming streets into pedagogical and political spaces where youth reclaim the right to the city through insurgent counter-narratives.