Contemporary theories and the circulation of ideas in planning - the emergence of the soft spaces approach: a case study in the Metropolitan Region of Sorocaba within the macrometropolis of São Paulo

Abstract

The field of territorial planning integrates specific knowledge and other disciplines that end up influencing its practices and ideas, in the same way, territorial dynamics and their vectors stress the formulation of new theories and praxis. In this sense, this research is concerned with the circulation of ideas in planning (traveling planning ideas), a theme that, on the one hand, tries to understand how approaches in the field originate, spread and are interpreted in practice. On the other hand, it critically analyzes the geopolitics of the networks responsible for this circulation and implementation, their ideals and values. From this, the research aims to discuss and deepen contemporary theories and the circulation of ideas in the field of planning, from the soft spaces approach, in order to contribute with new interpretations and emerging issues, having as a case the Macrometropole Paulista MMP , specifically the recent Metropolitan Region of Sorocaba (RMS). This approach, which deals with processes identified in the New Labor period (1997-2006) in the United Kingdom, interprets that part of the statutory (hard) planning is complemented by non-statutory or informal (soft) planning actions, where the State transfers its protagonism for sectors and segments organized around civil society and the market. In this approach, there is evidence of a break with the rigidity associated with institutional practices, in a perspective of working beyond existing political or administrative boundaries. Understanding these emerging theories and their discussion, we seek to contribute to planning paths, strengthening reflection and theory production in the Brazilian context. In this way, the (macro)metropolitan case will be used and discussed to critically assess the limits and possibilities of the theories and ideas of the global North in the context of emerging countries. For that, the methodology will go through three phases representing the circulation of ideas: I - contextualization (origin); II - decontextualization (trajectory); and III - recontextualization (destiny). In each phase, qualitative-quantitative methods will be used, which involve research and literature review, secondary data collection, document analysis and interviews with planners, field academics and key actors, as well as the systematization of this content through software. (AU)