A construção de um campo de pesquisa: a produção de investigadores brasileiros na Sintaxe Espacial

Abstract

his paper reflects on Brazilian scientific production associated with Space Syntax (SS), also known as the Theory of the Social Logic of Space (TSLS). The objective is to identify the intentions and priority of research topics, as well as the leading universities and research networks in the field, allowing for an understanding of trends and future scenarios for this approach. To this end, a comparative analysis of data extracted from publications that use SS as a theory, method, and research tool is developed, based on articles found in conference proceedings and/or journals, theses, and dissertations. The discussion is structured around the scrutiny of national production on two scales: a) in a specific context, through the analysis of Brazilian productions; and b) in a broader context, based on connections between researchers, from a Lusophone perspective. In summary, the findings indicate that the SS approach in Brazil has been extensively adopted in works on centrality/land use, segregation/inequality, and mobility, with a clear organization into large thematic areas. Increasingly, themes such as urban ecology, urban resilience, and comfort are being identified. It is significant to point out that within the community of Portuguese-speaking countries and in the field of urban form studies, Brazil and Portugal are prominent; however, regarding the applications of SS, Brazil stands out above all. The identified trends allow us to perceive the existence of an increasingly robust dialogue between different approaches and SE, enabling contributions between perspectives, addressing layers of investigation, and overlapping theoretical fields.