This research aims to identify, document, interpret and disseminate self-initiated practices
in social housing neighborhoods, in the city of Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal. The
study aims to assess the consequences that the COVID-19 pandemic had on these practices
and how Design can contribute to the resonance of these initiatives in other
equivalent social contexts. Two local initiatives were identified: Recreational Association
Clube Balteiro Jovem (ARCBJ) and School Workshop of cartoning and sewing
(Escola Oficina). Preliminary work has been carried out with the Vila Nova de Gaia
City Council and the aforementioned residents' associations ARCBJ and Escola Oficina.
Emic data is being collected through methods of direct and indirect observation,
including ethnographic interviews, focus groups, and participant observation. This
paper presents the ongoing research project and the results of the preliminary work
done

Alvelos, Heitor

Barreto, Susana

Brandão, Daniel

Lima, Cláudia

Martins, Nuno

Roberti, Ana Clara

Santiago, Eliana Penedos

English

Repositório Aberto da Universidade do Porto

Human Factors in Communication of Design, Vol. 49, 2022, 1–7https://doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1002029Self-Initiated Practices in the UrbanCommunity of Balteiro: DesignChallenges in a Post-PandemicSettingNuno Martins1, Daniel Brandão2, Eliana Penedos-Santiago3,Heitor Alvelos4, Cláudia Lima5, Susana Barreto4,and Ana Clara Roberti61Research Institute for Design, Media and Culture, School of Design,Polytechnic Institute of Cavado and Ave, Barcelos, Portugal2Communication and Society Research Centre, Institute of Social Sciences,University of Minho, Braga, Portugal3ESAD.CR IPL, ID+, University of Porto, Leiria, Portugal4ID+, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal5ID+, Universidade Lusófona, Porto, Portugal6CITCEM, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto, Porto, PortugalABSTRACTThis research aims to identify, document, interpret and disseminate self-initiated pra-ctices in social housing neighborhoods, in the city of Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal. Thestudy aims to assess the consequences that the COVID-19 pandemic had on these pra-ctices and how Design can contribute to the resonance of these initiatives in otherequivalent social contexts. Two local initiatives were identified: Recreational Associ-ation Clube Balteiro Jovem (ARCBJ) and School Workshop of cartoning and sewing(Escola Oficina). Preliminary work has been carried out with the Vila Nova de GaiaCity Council and the aforementioned residents’ associations ARCBJ and Escola Ofi-cina. Emic data is being collected through methods of direct and indirect observation,including ethnographic interviews, focus groups, and participant observation. Thispaper presents the ongoing research project and the results of the preliminary workdone.Keywords: Communication design, Community practices, Citizenship, Social housingneighborhoods, Inclusive designINTRODUCTIONThe study presented in this paper is being developed in the scope of the resea-rch project “Echoing the Communal Self (ECHO)”, funded by the Fundaçãopara a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), and aims to identify, document, interpretand disseminate current self-regulated community practices in social hou-sing neighborhoods in the city of Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, having, asa case study, the neighborhood of Balteiro. We present methodologies andthe first outcomes of the ethnographic work developed at Balteiro, namely© 2022. Published by AHFE Open Access. All rights reserved. 12 Martins et al.an analysis of the origins, dynamics, needs and current challenges in face ofpost-pandemic scenarios in the present and future of two local initiatives:Recreational Association Clube Balteiro Jovem (ARCBJ) and School Work-shop of cartoning and sewing (Escola Oficina); additionally, it presents a firstset of hypotheses on how Design may contribute to the resonance of theseinitiatives in other equivalent social contexts.We argue that COVID-19 pandemic regulations, as well as their economicconsequences, have had a significant impact on the nature and viability of theaforementioned practices: as a consequence of social distancing and a phobiaof the collective, long periods of lockdown and a radical emptying of publicspace, prior models of creative communal practice will need re-assessing andre-invention.In turn, the proposal to document and disseminate these practices throughDesign aims to strengthen the mechanisms of empathy and social solidarityamong citizens. The research intends to branch out into intuitive, practicaland structural issues: preliminary work has been carried out with the VilaNova de Gaia City Council and the aforementioned residents’ associationsARCBJ and Escola Oficina. Emic data is being collected through methodsof direct and indirect observation, including ethnographic interviews, focusgroups, and participant observation. Audiovisual and photographic contentwill be collected towards a bank of resources for further scrutiny and employ-ment in exploratory approaches. The research is therefore aimed at providingstrategic outcomes, future replication, contextual adaptation and upscalingto national and international contexts.IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEMDespite its original ambition as a means to provide affordable homes and asocial integration to working class citizens, from its onset on the aftermathof the 1974 revolution, social housing in Portugal never quite fulfilled itsmission of inclusion. In Porto in particular, a preceding tradition of self suffi-cient communities (“ilhas”) may have contributed to a paradoxical tendencyfor self-exclusion among underprivileged demographics. These former slumsbuilt around factories survived the decadence of local industry to this day.Inner dynamics in these neighborhoods have always tended to be highlysuspicious of external presence and influence, often relying on self-initiatedcommunity practices: sports, recreational and cultural activities and pro-fessional training in crafts, all multiple examples of successful autonomousprocesses of civic development throughout the years. This contrasts with thebroader socio-cultural context of Portugal, where the norm points to a highreliance on institutional tutelage.This reliance has become a major issue in the current scenario of a globalpandemic: citizens have witnessed the evidence that former socio-culturalpractices will struggle in current and emerging scenarios. As such, there isan inevitability in enquiring about the nature, purpose and impact of self-initiated community activities to be pursued in the post-COVID scenario.Furthermore, can we mediate this socio-cultural reconfiguration on a localscale towards a broader, networked process of regeneration?Self-Initiated Practices in the Urban Community of Balteiro 3The main problem in the present research therefore concerns the needto identify and activate emerging models of creative social dynamics inunforeseen, post-pandemic scenarios. This problem branches out into intui-tive, practical and structural issues that the team is currently surveying:preliminary work was carried out with VNG City Council and residents’associations, where the aforementioned initiatives were identified. Despitethe contributions of these initiatives to the inclusion and harmonisation ofthe social fabric, the City Council acknowledges a difficulty in their media-tion: as such, we argue, design can develop strategies of communication andpedagogy that will carry citizen-led relevant practices beyond their tangiblecircumstances.The Importance of Community ValorizationThe experience from ethnographic projects involving social neighborhoodsin the district of Porto presents an issue directly raised by the residents them-selves: the residents have a considerably more positive attitude when theliving spaces, i.e. the common areas of these developments, are valued and‘dignified’ (Roberti 2020).These spaces are formed and adapted by the individuals who occupy andexperience them, and, in turn, have a strong influence on the daily life andformation of these people. A kind of molding, two-way influence, that contri-butes to the construction of places and identities. “It is essential to understandthat the fixed character space constitutes the mold that affects a good part ofhuman behavior” (Hall 1986, p. 125).We recognize the existence of different cities within a single city (Roberti2020), cities that do not communicate. Places that act as microcosms - some-times isolated, due to the stigma and exclusion of the very urban environmentthat surrounds them - with their own dynamics and rules, partly imposed byothers, partly created and developed throughout the lives of their inhabitants.They are microcultures that coexist within a common space, in this case, morespecifically, we are talking about socioeconomically fragile populations thatinhabit social housing projects.In some cases, the sense of community and the collective strength motiva-ted by creative activities and initiatives, contribute to empowerment and a(socially and mentally) healthier everyday life for these people. For example,the construction of community gardens, recreational associations, neigh-borhood associations, and artistic activities. These are initiatives that arecommonly little publicized, excluded, and isolated from contact with theworld beyond the limits of these social neighborhoods.As argued by Lefebvre (2000), the creation and appropriation of spacespeak about who planned and built it, but also, and mainly, about who livesin it.It is fundamental in a study of this nature, a social research project, to“seek to understand the return, the retribution, and the value of the work forthose involved in it” (Roberti 2020, p. 74). This is a constant concern notonly for researchers in these areas, but for the participants themselves, in thiscase, the residents of these social neighborhoods. What, effectively, remains4 Martins et al.for these populations? How can they put to use the study and the investmentmade?MAIN OBJECTIVESThis study, of exploratory scope, aims to design the dissemination and repli-cation of self-initiated practices in underprivileged urban communities in thecurrent post-pandemic scenario. Through the study of the cases of ARCBJand Escola Oficina, originating from the neighborhood of Balteiro, it isintended, through Design, to know and document the success story of thesepractices; to ascertain the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had and whatchallenges it raises in the present and future; and how Art and Design cancontribute to the dissemination and potential replication of these initiatives.In order to fulfill these main objectives, the following specific objectives stepsare proposed to be developed:• Identify key players and collaborators of each practice organized withinthe community for collecting data through methods of direct and indirectobservation. This will include a set of ethnographic interviews: contex-tual video and photography towards creating a bank of visual materialaccording to the informants profiles, the community and the projectobjectives.• Analyze the documentary content (formal documents provided by VNGCity Council and the social services) and the practices and methods ofprevious self-regulation initiatives for further development towards socio-cultural involvement and evolvement in post-COVID settings.• Disseminate and revert the aggregated knowledge into public exhibitionsand workshops on location and within the community.• Lay the groundwork for setting up an international network of empiricalknowledge and cooperation between citizens, designers, civic associationsand institutional enablers. Through a set of creative and engaging acti-vities aiming at community collaborations and reciprocal learning aimsto contribute to the creation of opportunities in socio-economically disa-dvantaged communities and, consequently, to the reduction of stigmas andsocial inequalities.PLAN AND METHODSTwo case studies of success were already identified in the Balteiro socialhousing neighborhood, in Vila Nova de Gaia, in a preliminary approachto fieldwork, namely: the Recreational Association Clube Balteiro Jovem(ARCBJ), which has contributed, through sports, to reinforce the social tiesand civic training among the youngest; and the Escola Oficina, an initiativethat was born in 2015 by the community of Balteiro, which has been foste-ring the training of residents in the areas of sewing and cardboard making,helping them in the access to employment. In order to further study the histo-rical background, understand the dynamics and the development process ofthese two initiatives and explain and disseminate all reached insights, thefollowing methodologies will be adopted.Self-Initiated Practices in the Urban Community of Balteiro 5• Emic data will be collected through methods of direct and indirect obse-rvation, including ethnographic interviews and focus groups (Mata andFernandes 2019). This is essential: to identify key players and collabo-rators of each practice organized within the community; to documentchanges in these practices after the COVID-19; to understand how thesepractices are perceived in the community; and the impact these practiceshave in the community (Hammersley and Atkinson 2007);• Contextual video and photography will be elaborated towards creatinga bank of visual material for further scrutiny (Banks and Zeitlyn 2015;Tinkler 2013);• Critical and qualitative analysis of documents to understand the historicalframework of each community activity (Fernandes and Giesteira 2017);• Quantitative analysis of statistical data from preliminary work providedby the VNG City Council social services;• Translation of complex practices and methods into explanatory visualmedia, through infographic and illustration techniques (Cairo 2019;Martins et al. 2020a);• Design of an online platform where all the research outcomes and intera-ctions with the community will converge. This will include a study on userexperience and user interface design, as well as usability testing in order toensure efficient use of the interface by its target audience (Norman 2013;Martins et al. 2020b).The Design can play a key role in stimulating community life by translatingand communicating empathy and social solidarity. The COVID-19 pandemichas put these values to the test, with a resulting need to understand how theyare being regenerated among communities. The present moment in historyrequires listening, rethinking and innovation in the face of changes in diffe-rent paradigms (communication design, social and cultural inclusion), basedon the following ideas:1) in auscultation to the problem, ascertaining how these communities havesurvived, reconfigured themselves and now look to the future;2) in building the foundations of a network, mapping community practi-ces, connecting citizens and bringing them together to build the commongood;3) in the definition of a standardised design and communicationmodel (pos-sible to be adapted and replicated into diverse contexts), including thecreation of narratives and their systematization and dissemination.The whole communication system created will be designed to be accessibleto all. For this reason, the main means of dissemination of the communitypractices will be an online platform with free and open access.The digital and interactive interface and respective contents shall offerusability guarantees to a transversal public, namely individuals with lowschooling and literacy levels. The fulfillment of these objectives is inten-ded to achieve the desired dissemination and international replication of thepractices.6 Martins et al.Contributing to the State of the ArtPrior projects, by both the current team and external researchers, have beencarried out in contexts where conviviality and the sharing of common spacesdid not compromise the safety of individuals. In a pandemic context mar-ked by self-isolation and social distancing, these practices were compromised,requiring new forms of implementation. Therefore, through direct and indi-rect observation methods, the impact of the pandemic on social dynamicsis an ongoing inventory. Furthermore, canonical design methodologies arebeing adapted in order to suit these emerging realities.Despite important essays already developed (Martins et al. 2021), studythat reinforces this pioneering work front in design research is urgent. Infact, unlike in previous projects by the team, this project does not intend tointervene in practices carried out by citizens. Instead, it intends to move forw-ard in a more rarefied approach: design research as a regenerating agent ofdissemination, a network facilitator, and an aggregator between actions andcitizens. The testing of this role for Design will be a key contribution to thestate of the art in this field. We further argue that the fairly recent valida-tion of Design as a scientific discipline requires the embracing of exploratorystrategies. In the present case, we argue for the urgency to broaden a scien-tific overview of Design in face of the current pace of deep socio-economicchanges deriving from the pandemic.CONCLUSION: EXPECTED RESULTSThis project expects to disseminate successful community practices and safemethods of implementing them through media accessible to less literatecitizens, which will meet usability requirements. This is expected to buildan international network of empirical knowledge and cooperation betw-een citizens, designers, civic associations, and institutional enablers. Finally,the project seeks to contribute to the creation of opportunities in socio-economically disadvantaged communities and, consequently, to the reductionof stigmas and social inequalities. These results will be reached throughthe following outputs: Development of an online platform mapping initia-tives, providing content access, and strengthening an international networkof emerging self-regulated initiatives; Production of best practices manual forsocio-cultural involvement and development in post-COVID scenarios; A setof Video documentaries of the research process, for analysis, replication andexhibition.ACKNOWLEDGMENTThis project is founded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science andTechnology under the reference EXPL/ART-DAQ/0037/2021.REFERENCESBanks, M., & Zeitlyn, D. (2015). Visual Methods in Social Research. SAGEPublications. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781473921702Self-Initiated Practices in the Urban Community of Balteiro 7Cairo, A. (2019) How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter about Visual Information.New York: W. W. Norton & Company.Fernandes, M., & Giesteira, B. (2017). Visual Digital Archives: The fieldof Information Visualization in Digital Archives. 4th International Mul-tidisciplinary Scientific Conference on Social Sciences and Arts. Vol. 1,pp. 381–388. Viena: SGEM2017 Conference Proceedings. doi: 10.5593/SGEM-SOCIAL2017/HB51/S17.046Hall, Edward T. (1986). A Dimensão Oculta. Translated by Miguel Serras Pereira.Lisboa: Relógio D’água.Hammersley, M., & Atkinson, P. (2007). Ethnography: Principles in practice. Taylor& Francis.Lefebvre, Henri. (2000). A Produção do Espaço. Translated by Doralice BarrosPereira and Sérgio Martins. 4 ed. Paris: Éditions Anthropos.Martins, N., Penedos-Santiago, Lima, C., Barreto, S. & A., Calado, I.(2020a) Infographics of Wisdom: Study on the individual legacies of reti-red academics in art and design higher education and research. In the 4thInternational Conference on Education and ELearning (ICEEL 2020), Novem-ber 06–08, 2020, Tsuru University, Japan. ACM, New York, NY, USA.https://doi.org/10.1145/3439147.3439169Martins, N., Alvelos, H., Chatterjee, A., Calado, I., Quintela, M. (2020b) Mul-timedia as mediator of knowledge between older generations and present-daystudents of art and design. In the 4th International Conference on Education andMultimedia Technology (ICEMT 2020), July 19–22, 2020, Kyoto, Japan. ACM,New York, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3416797.3416827Martins, N., Brandão, D., Moreira da Silva, F. (ed.). 2021. Perspectives on Designand Digital Communication II: Research, Innovations and Best Practices. Sprin-ger Series in Design and Innovation, vol 14. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75867-7_20Mata, S., & Fernandes, L. (2019). Revisitação aos atores e territórios psicotrópicosdo Porto: olhares etnográficos no espaço de 20 anos. Civitas - Revista De CiênciasSociais, 19(1), 195–212. https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-7289.2019.1.30Norman, D. A. (2013) The Design of everyday things, New York: Basic BooksRoberti, Ana Clara. (2020). “Cidade Ilha: o documentário etnográfico autoral comoalternativa à exotização, a partir da cidade do Porto.” Universidade do Porto.Tinkler, P. (2013) Using Photographs in Social and Historical Research. SagePublications.

Self-initiated practices in the urban community of Balteiro: design challenges in a post-pandemic setting

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Self-initiated practices in the urban community of Balteiro: design challenges in a post-pandemic setting

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