Construction of a healthy space for micro and macro reverberations: experience of the Municipal Nursery of Medicinal and Food Gardens in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste [state of Sao Paulo] Brazil

Abstract

The study assumes that the implementation of new social technologies, based on a gender perspective, becomes an important instrument to minimize inequalities in contemporary society, promoting healthy and resilient environments. Thus, this article seeks to describe and systematize the actions developed by a group of women to build a collective and plural space based on the cultivation of Food and Medicinal Plants. The work consists of presenting an experience to the Municipal Nursery of Santa Bárbara d’Oeste, a city located in the interior of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, where a group of women occupied the urban space to enable the implementation of the nursery. The project is monitored by the University's Urban Planning and Healthy Cities Research Group. Therefore, a bibliographical and documental review was carried out using the observational method and support of photographic records for multidisciplinary data collection to understand the variables involved in the development of the project. During the years 2019-2020, the role and contribution of women in the process of building humanized, participatory environments and their effects on the health conditions of surrounding residents was identified. The work developed in a network indicates how easy it is for women to respond to the principles of a healthy city, it presents its own animosities that can support the formation of new policies and collective efforts that determine the improvement of conditions and ways of living.