As geotecnologias como ferramentas didáticas no curso de arquitetura e urbanismo: forma urbana e sensação de insegurança no Município de São Carlos - SP

The course Project IV-B (IAU 0736) of the Institute of Architecture and Urbanism (University of São Paulo) aims to deepen the student’s repertoire on urban studies through the analysis of complex situations involving the understanding of different socio-spatial phenomena. Among these phenomena, the issue of public safety is highlighted as a central element in the definition of contemporary urban form, mainly through the emerging of fortified enclaves, including gated community, shopping centers, high walls, electric fences, towers, alarms and video-monitoring circuit. This paper presents a didactic experience that involves the use of geotechnologies to understand the relationship between insecurity sensation and urban form. For that, the Municipality of São Carlos (SP) was chosen as a case study. Through the integration of spatial informations on police occurrences and the data collection on subjective insecurity sensation, it was built a toolbox that allowed the students to broaden the understanding about the relationship between urban form and public safety. The application of the Kriging technique on the data about subjective insecurity sensation showed that the gated communities, instead of being part of the solution, have helped to aggravate this problem. Moreover, the police statistics map showed that not always the insecurity sensation is compatible with the crime rate of a given locality.