A escola do bairro: impactos socioespaciais do Centro de Atenção Integral à Criança e ao Adolescente (CAIC) no bairro Novo Tempo II, Ituiutaba–MG

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the socio-spatial impacts of the programs developed by the Centro de Atenção Integral à Criança e ao Adolescente (CAIC) – Escola Municipal Aureliano Joaquim da Silva, located in the Novo Tempo II neighborhood in Ituiutaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil. From the perspective of Critical Geography, the study is grounded in the analytical categories of form, function, structure, and process, as outlined by Milton Santos, and adopts the Right to the City, as formulated by Henri Lefebvre (2001) and David Harvey (2004), as the central axis for interpreting urban reality. The CAIC is understood as a multifunctional public facility whose role transcends the limits of formal education by integrating social, cultural, welfare, and health policies, thereby assuming a strategic function in territorial organization and in the promotion of peripheral urban centralities. The methodology is based on a qualitative approach, combining different research techniques: participant observation, document analysis, bibliographic review, and the application of semi-structured questionnaires to neighborhood residents, school professionals, and social actors who experienced the implementation and development of the CAIC’s subprograms. Data analysis made it possible to grasp representations, everyday practices, and lived experiences, revealing how the presence of the school and the provision of public services materialized in networks of sociability, forms of spatial appropriation, and new meanings attributed to the territory. The results indicate that the subprograms linked to PRONAICA, focused on early childhood and elementary education, culture, school meals, sports, health, and preparation for work, played a significant role in shaping both the physical and social configuration of the Novo Tempo II neighborhood. These actions contributed to expanding access to basic rights and strengthening community bonds. In this context, the school has consolidated itself as an institutional reference point in a territory historically marked by deficiencies in urban infrastructure, promoting both material and symbolic transformations in the daily lives of residents. However, the research also highlights the limits of institutional action, particularly regarding the discontinuity of public policies, the lack of intersectoral coordination, and the fragility of communication strategies with the local community. These weaknesses undermine the effectiveness of the programs and place the sustainability of the social gains achieved at risk. The analysis of socio-spatial dynamics allows us to affirm that the CAIC has become a structuring agent of the territory, but that its impact depends directly on the continuity of integrated public policies, recognition of local specificities, and the active participation of the population in the management of common goods. It is concluded that the experience of the CAIC in the Novo Tempo II neighborhood represents an important analytical key for understanding the effects of public facilities on the production of urban space in medium-sized Brazilian cities. The research contributes to the debate on spatial justice, socio-educational inclusion, and territorial transformation, demonstrating that the right to the city can only be fully realized when public policies are conceived in an integrated, democratic, and context-sensitive manner, attentive to the realities of those who inhabit marginalized urban spaces.