Entre viver "aglomerados como ostras" e em "prédios modernos ajardinados" : urbanização e arquitetura residencial em Sobral.

Abstract

This study aims to discuss urbanization and housing in Sobral (CE) between the 1880s and 1950s, with a primary focus on the analysis of residential architecture. The research was guided by the understanding that, in order to study these buildings, it is first necessary to consider them as a system of objects connected to a larger whole— the city. The temporal framework is anchored in representations of the city, namely: Planta da cidade de Sobral from circa 1880, Planta da cidade de Sobral from 1882, Planta da cidade de Sobral from 1937, and the aerial photogrammetry of 1959. In the first chapter, based on the methodology of Landscape Archaeology, the use of urban maps mentioned above is proposed as a reference for analyzing city growth and identifying its axes of expansion. Supportes by these foundations, information from official state documents, newspaper articles, urban taxes, and secondary bibliographic sources are spatialized and overlaid. In the second chapter, the urbanization of the city is systematized through the lens of space-shaping agents, including economic actors, the Church, and the State. Through this perspective, the study explores the mutual interests among these agents, providing an alternative understanding of urban spaces conception. The third chapter examines the distribution of housing within the city using data from the 1898 Alistamento de eleitores estadoaes e municipaes, the 1927 impostos de illuminação e sanitário, the 1934 imposto predial, and the 1949–1952 Livro de Licenças e Construções. The research seeks to understand how housing was situated within the urban core, its role in the expansion of the street grid, and the socioeconomic characteristics of its residents. In the final chapter, guided by the analysis of the 1956 Planta da cidade de Sobral, the study interprets the typological, formal, and linguistic aspects of residential architectural, as artifacts. In addition to the aforementioned map, inventories produced by the National Institute of Historic andArtistic Heritage (IPHAN) on the Urban Site and field photographic surveys were employed. The analysis also relates to the qualifications of urban builders and the circulation of ideas, people, and images. The relevance of this study lies in its contribution to the urban historiography of Sobral and the state of Ceará, as well as in providing academic knowledge to guide preservation policies and architectural interventions in the city’s Historic Urban Site.