Serrano Neighborhood: Landscape of a Peripheral Occupation Process

Abstract

Industrialization was the growth engine of several cities in Brazil. As a consequence of the accelerated urbanization, land parcels were irregularly occupied, creating problems in the sphere of urban planning of the cities. The present work aims to analyze the process and the urban landscape of Bairro Serrano in Caxias do Sul located in the northeast of Rio Grande do Sul and to trace an occupation panorama until the current days. The neighborhood originated from an irregular land parceling over a water catchment area. Throughout the history of the land, the basic infrastructure was conquered with much popular mobilization until Serrano was legitimized as a neighborhood in the planning of the city Caxias do Sul. The scale of the work is based on the urban perimeter of the land and its immediate landscape. As methodology for the analysis, support was sought in bibliographies of historical accounts, official documents, as well as in methodologies of diagnosis and analysis of the urban landscape. To develop the study, geospatial information based on GIS (Geographic Information System) and field visits were used. As results, we found a landscape directly linked to its occupation process and access to basic infrastructure, with marked boundaries and seams, as well as visual landmarks that create memory and a sense of belonging to the neighborhood residents.

KEY WORDS: Planning. Infrastructure. Occupation.