Avenida Eduardo Mondlane in the City of Moçâmedes (Angola)

Conservation and Use of Public Leisure Space

Abstract

The article aims to assess the state of conservation and use of Avenida Eduardo Mondlane as a public leisure space in the city of Moçâmedes. The following methodology was adopted: description, surveys by questionnaires to 120 elements, application of a checklist (studied by Lima, 2006) to assess the conditions of conservation and use of the items: afforestation and garden; leisure and entertainment equipment; sanitation; lighting; safety; accessibility and signage. Avenida Eduardo Mondlane is a public place, open and easily accessible, bringing together several historic buildings in its surroundings. We obtained the following results, regarding conservation: afforestation and garden are suitable for the location, evaluated as good; the leisure and entertainment facilities are adequate for the location, rarely work, but are not maintained, evaluated as very bad; sanitation, lighting and security, the structure of sanitation and lighting is adequate for the site, but its condition is not maintained, the sanitation assessment is poor, the lighting is reasonable, and the security is that of bad; as for accessibility and signage, the streets are easily accessible for people with different mobility, the roads are accessible to public and private transport with reserved stops, the evaluation was very good. As for use: 71% of respondents attend the site daily; 91% use the place with the intention of staying, attracted by comfort (46%) and quiet (26.6%); with the purpose of developing their businesses (37.5%) or sports activities (16.6%).

Keywords: Public leisure spaces. Urban landscape. Avenida Eduardo Mondlane.