Social and environmental dimensions of public spaces of the indigenous territory of the Sierra de Manantlan mountain range, Jalisco state, western Mexico

Abstract

The social and environmental dimension of the public space occupants of the indigenous territory of the Sierra de Manantlan, Jalisco, has a crucial place in the heritage of Mexico, such is the case of its form of idiosyncrasy, mutual interaction, and coexistence. The cultural, political, and economic organizations the Sierra de Manantlan mark an identity of the native peoples, where their customs, communal life, and solidarity work are preserved. The research objective was to evaluate the social perception and environmental habitability conditions of public space occupants in the towns of Chacala and Telcruz. Therefore, semi-structured interviews were conducted for the primary actors in both study areas and 259 information cards were applied to the inhabitants with data regarding social interaction variables and meteorological conditions in two seasons (summer and winter of a calendar year). Regarding data analysis and statistical purposes, the Pearson and Spearman correlations was used according to the needs of the study. The results revealed that the occupants of public spaces mostly report the pleasure of interacting in said spaces; however, they indicate that they would like an intervention or remodeling in the place that would encourage greater interaction with their neighbors, family, and friends. Another additional fact is that climatic variables, especially in summer, harm the desire to attend or stay in said spaces because of the lack of natural elements or bioclimatic devices that mitigate the environmental impact.