THE SYMBOLIC LABYRINTH OF THE CITY: PLACE-MAKING, SENSE OF PLACE, AND THE PRODUCTION OF SUBJECTIVITIES IN CONTEMPORARY URBAN SPACE

Abstract

This article investigates the processes involved in the production of urban subjectivities through the concepts of place-making and placeness, proposing the concept of the symbolic labyrinth as an analytical category for understanding the experience of the contemporary city. The study is grounded on the hypothesis that the city is not merely a physical or functional structure, but a symbolic territory traversed by memories, affects, power relations, and struggles for recognition. Methodologically, the research adopts a qualitative approach of a bibliographic and hermeneutic nature, articulating contributions from Lacanian psychoanalysis, humanistic geography, critical geography, and cultural criticism. The analysis engages with the works of Jacques Lacan, Yi-Fu Tuan, Henri Lefebvre, Milton Santos, David Harvey, and Raquel Rolnik, taking as empirical references the Terreiro de Jesus in Salvador and the Palácio das Artes in Belo Horizonte. The findings indicate that the processes of place-making and placeness constitute central mechanisms in the production of urban subjectivities, while the symbolic labyrinth enables an understanding of the tensions between belonging, alienation, exclusion, and resistance that permeate urban space. The study concludes that the right to the city involves not only access to material resources but also the possibility of producing meanings, constructing forms of belonging, and participating in the symbolic configuration of territories.