The polysemy of the modern in the production of the Bairro da Prata in Campina Grande - PB: reviewing urban evolution

Abstract

The term modern is a notion that applies to different contexts, such as the identification of a style of architecture and actions and postures that denote the passage of time with an intuitive relationship to the sense of advancing. The sociocultural mechanisms that shape their notions are invisible, but their reflections are easily perceptible in the city, including in public policies and in the urban space. Aiming, then, to understand this variety of definitions for an urban context, we resorted to an investigation on the mediations between disciplinary fields to understand the social practices that establish such notions. The interest is due to the insistent use of the term modern to characterize urbanization processes that, in a holistic view, make up one of the layers that are related in the definition of an urban area. The purpose of this analysis is due to the ironic controversy of the term in the production of space in the neighborhood of Prata, located in Campina Grande. It is an area of expansion that coincides with the modernization of the national and local organizational structure, also being the period in which the modern architectural movement reached its peak.