CALADA NOITE PRETA

Ambiências Noturnas e o Medo do Outro

Abstract

Nocturnal atmospheres carry common and global associations with the dark and the void, which allow the emergence of feelings such as fear, one of the great urban preoccupations that afflict planners and designers from the beginning of the history of cities. However, although the subject is usually raised in terms of the objective aspects, such as safety indexes or even lighting, this article, which brings the theme of fear of the Other (space or subject) in nocturnal atmospheres, is based on subjectivity, which allows a more holistic understanding of the atmospheres and processes between subject and space linked to them. Thus, in order to analyze the subjective aspects that relate the subjects, the fear and the nocturnal city, the ethnotopography (type of ethnography where the analysis of the sociocultural groups is made through the space) is proposed as methodology. The conclusions show that the key issue of the present theme is associated to relations of alterity, and the approximate contact with the Other minimizes the feeling of fear in the city at night.