Praia de Iracema: percursos interdisciplinares para um estudo sobre projetos de sinalização turística

Abstract

Through an interdisciplinary approach between Information Design and Urban Planning, this study aims to investigate the issue of signage applied in urban tourist environments. In this perspective, the place of Praia de Iracema was delimited as a case of study, which is a historic neighborhood located on the seafront of the city of Fortaleza. Known for its bohemian and nighttime leisure, the neighborhood has been interpreted as a creative district since that the capital of Ceará was designated UNESCO creative city, in 2019. Then The Praia de Iracema became a laboratory for interventions aimed to integrate Fortaleza into the globalized scenario of commodity cities. Once understood the complexity of contemporary urban contexts, we propose a debate that has the social and cultural studies as its background, essential to understand the systematization of hegemonic narratives that influence both the development of urban and design projects as well as the perception of residents and tourists about the city's image. The discussion is formulated in four chapters that bring in addition a theoretical-conceptual review of urban and design practices, an analysis and interpretation of the local context and, also, the formulation of research design tools that represent contributions for signage projects on the city scale. In view of the complexity of the subjects dealt with, the methodology adopted in this case of study is structured in a set of methods and techniques in which the bibliographic review, the documentary research, the incorporated direct observation, the semi-structured interviews and the application of a original questionnaire on site to stand out primary data analysis. It is our wish that the results presented can contribute to the evaluation of current public sector initiatives with regard to projects involving the neighborhood, as well as to assist for the interdisciplinary debate on urban policy and the image of the city.