Culture, territory and action: the Providência favela’s response to Covid-19

Abstract

This article examines the creation and activities of the Emergency Committee known as SOS Providência – Região Portuária, a community initiative formed during the Covid-19 pandemic by cultural organisations and agents already active in the Providência favela and other neighbourhoods in Rio de Janeiro’s port area. The aim of this paper is to understand the forms of collective action of the committee to face a crisis situation, based on the historicity of these agents’ activism and resistance in the field of culture. The analysis reveals what is actually happening on the ground in terms of ‘invented spaces of action’, and highlights the transformative power of their collective actions. Finally, the article points to contributions that the analysis of the SOS Providência case can make to urban studies and the insurgent planning debate.

Keywords

• cultural activism
• transformative action
• insurgent planning
• covid-19
• providência favela
• rio de janeiro