O protagonismo e a sedução do mar e da laguna em Maceió e o imaginário das águas na cidade

Abstract

The water bodies of Maceió involve the subtleties and complexities in the formation of the city's space. Considering the geography and significance of these water bodies, this research aims to investigate how the sea and lagoon have played, since the beginning of the settlement until the present day, a protagonist or seductress role in the local space production, and how these roles have contributed to the consolidation of the collective perception of water bodies. Although Maceio’s current image is strongly associated with the seacoast, this research found that until the 1960s, both the sea and the lagoon alternated the protagonism and the seduction in the construction of the imaginary of the waters in the city. The 1970s represented a transition from seeing the waters in Maceió, which over time has undergone a re-signification, in a combination of the economic interests aimed at increasing the real estate market and tourism, and fomented by the public power - influencing the production of the city space, and establishing the coast as conducive to expansion, to the detriment of the lagoon region, quite densely packed and impoverished. The chosen methodological procedure uses qualitative research, based on bibliographical and documental research; the theoretical construction of water bodies collective perception, with Bachelard; and Walter Benjamin’ s historical lenses. As results, the Maceio’s water bodies collective perception is permeated by symbolism: on one hand the sea, increasingly valued, represents the image of seduction - the coast onwer, and fed by the structures of power: public administrations, tourism and real estate market; on the other, the lagoon, also seen with its contribution of seduction, but refuted by the socio-environmental conditions to which it is submitted.