The City as Curriculum and Acts of Refusal: The Experience of the Ocupação 9 de Julho

Abstract

This article approaches the city of São Paulo as a curricular structure, understood not only as a physical space but also as a symbolic and pedagogical device that organises ways of life. Starting from a critique of the capitalist rationality that shapes the contemporary city, it analyses how urbanisation processes — particularly in the field of housing — function as pedagogies of inequality, obedience, and disenchantment. Drawing on theoretical frameworks such as those of Paulo Freire, Raymond Williams, and Mark Fisher, the article examines urban practices that serve as forms of refusal of this dominant logic and announce alternative ways of inhabiting urban space. The focus is on the Movimento Sem Teto do Centro (City Centre Homeless People’s Movement, MSTC) and, in particular, on the Ocupação 9 de Julho (9 de Julho Occupation), located in central São Paulo. It considers their modes of political action — where culture and art hold a privileged role — together with the art workshops conducted between 2018 and 2023. The argument is that these experiences constitute alternative forms of meaning-making and urban resistance, fostering ways of life grounded in collectivity, creativity, and participation. The article concludes that, although organised under the hegemony of capital, the city also accommodates formative practices that destabilise its norms and point to other possible modes of existence and coexistence.