Envelhecer na cidade: desigualdades socioeconômicas e apropriação dos espaços públicos da orla de Fortaleza – CE

Abstract

Population aging is an inexorable phenomenon that occurs on a global scale, although it affects countries in different intensities, being in sync with their respective levels of social and economic development. According to census data collected by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the elderly population in Brazil in 1980 corresponded to 6.7% of the country's total population; in the following census, 1991, this percentage rises to 7.2%; in the 2000s, the elderly population reached 8.2% of the Brazilian population; and, finally, the last census conducted in 2010, registered a percentage of 10.5%. For the year 2020, the IBGE estimates that there will be a growth of 32.7%, with this age group representing 14.2% of the total number of inhabitants in the country. Thus, as the imminence of this process is verified, and that in contemporary times people live mostly in the cities, this research aims to meet the elderly residents and / or regulars on the Fortaleza’s coast, as well as the activities carried out in leisure spaces on the coast, seeking to understand how this population, at different socioeconomic levels, appropriates these spaces. The methodology used is based on three stages, initially the bibliographic review on the subject under study; subsequently, the collection of secondary data, mainly of a population and infrastructure nature; and finally, the field stage with the production of primary data through the performance of semi-structured interviews with the elderly population of three sectors of the Fortalezense coast. This cut uses the methodology applied by the Human Development Atlas: Barra do Ceará I, Meireles I and Praia do Futuro - Hunting and fishing / March 31, which have boardwalks as leisure spaces in common, but are also marked by social contrasts and income disparities. Access and full enjoyment of the city are anchored in a social construction rooted in the life history of individuals. It is concluded, therefore, that the elderly with lower income and education, maintained throughout their lives a relationship of work and leisure with the coastal spaces of the city, with the former clearly overlapping the latter with regard to the time allocated to carrying out such activities. Thus, there was no construction of habits that directly associated physical activity, leisure, sociability in these spaces with quality of life and an active and healthy aging. The elderly with the highest income, who are able to satisfactorily meet their biological, social and self-fulfillment needs, which in our research segment, live primarily in the HDU of Meireles, have a greater diversity of options with regard to access to spaces , activities and services that help to maintain their autonomy, health and quality of life. In relation to the most underserved elderly, there is a dependence on State or NGO's initiatives. Therefore, it is necessary that the policies created meet the multiple demands, so that all, but above all, the most vulnerable can age in an active and healthy way, finding in the city mechanisms that guarantee autonomy, achievement and quality of life.