Percepção do espaço físico construído no ambiente praial: um estudo na orla da Lagoa dos Patos em São Lourenço do Sul – RS.

Abstract

This study investigates the user perception of the physical space built in the beach environment. The motivating factors of the investigation consist of understanding the characteristics of areas contiguous to the natural environment that contribute to the perception of the quality of the place, which in this research refers to the physical space attributed to meaning by the user. This knowledge corroborates the maintenance of peculiarities representative of the landscape identity of the beach environment, given the tendency to reproduce urban patterns and explore the shores through the use and occupation of the land. In beach environments, most studies that investigate environmental perception take place on seafronts and in large cities. In order to contribute to this gap, this study is carried out in a small town near the edge of Lagoa dos Patos and aims to investigate how the physical space built in the beach environment influences the perception of the quality of the place. Therefore, a research is supported by methodological procedures in the area that examines the Environment-Behavior Relations, adopts Post-Occupation Assessment methods and techniques and develops under a phenomenological approach, with a qualitative methodological approach. Classified as exploratory, it carries out a single case study, which has as its object the municipality of São Lourenço do Sul, located in the southern region of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. As a cut-out area, the case study covers the beachfront of Praia da Barrinha, an environment that suffered severe damage to urban infrastructure caused by a flood that flooded half of the city in 2011 and which later had part of its shoreline rebuilt and restructured. Data collection for this research occurs through historical and documental survey and physical and evaluative field survey through observations with behavioral mapping and interviews. As categories of analysis, this study adopts legibility, territoriality and a sense of place. According to the users perception, characteristics of the physical space built in the beach environment are identified that influence the perception of the quality of the place, such as roads, adjacent public spaces and integrated to the edge, urban equipment, as well as attributes related to occupation building next to the beach area. In this study, it is concluded that the perception of the quality of the place in the evaluated beach environment is linked to the preservation of its natural characteristics, minimal interference in the beach strip, the inclusion of public spaces that provide opportunities for socializing and leisure and that guarantee the distance of the building from the shore, in addition to the control of this occupation, especially with regard to the urban parameters that regulate the height and setbacks of the buildings. This study contributes with empirical support for urban planning and for future interventions in beach environments, whether on the banks of rivers, lakes or seas, especially in small towns, supporting the maintenance of the identity of the place.