Children and the city’s streets: playing as a possibility for leisure in different communities in Florianópolis, southern Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT Playing in the streets is presented as a possibility for leisure. In order to study this phenomenon, the article aimed to understand the configuration of playing in vulnerable communities in Florianópolis, southern Brazil, during the covid-19 pandemic. This is a research with a qualitative and descriptive perspective, inspired by researchers of Merleau Ponty phenomenology, which adopts a posture of deep observation in relation to human movement. Children who were present on the streets of communities in vulnerable situations in Florianópolis participated in this study. Data collection consisted of observations performed by the main researcher. Considering the obligation to maintain a distance, the car was identified as an innovative transportation for data collection. The observations refer to the passages through the streets, at moments captured and written in a field diary. Nine car trips were carried out with an approximate duration of five hours each. The results are presented as narratives, subjected to critical review by the researchers in the study. The narratives describe the delicacy of each observation about who plays and experiences leisure on the streets. Playing in the streets of Florianópolis communities has meanings that reveal leisure as a manifestation of the creative experimentation of subjects with rights.