We focus on the notion of borders to explore how mobility and immobility in the city affect the relationship between human development and urban culture. We define borders as a relational space made of territoriality, representations and different possibilities of mobility and immobility. Drawing on research in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, we suggest a systematic approach to the analysis of borders and identify the socio-institutional, spatial and symbolic elements that make them more or less porous and thus more or less amenable to human mobility. We highlight the association between porosity in city borders and human development and illustrate the model contrasting two favela communities in Rio de Janeiro. We show that participation in the socio-cultural environment by favela grassroots organisations increases the porosity of internal city borders and contributes to the development of self, communities and the city. To focus on borders, their different elements and levels of porosity means to address simultaneously the psychosocial and cultural layers of urban spaces and the novel ways through which grassroots social actors develop themselves through participation and semiotic reconstruction of the socio-cultural environment.

中文翻译：

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城市中的想象力和流动性：分裂的城市环境中边界的多孔性和人类发展

我们专注于边界的概念，以探索城市中的流动性和固定性如何​​影响人类发展与城市文化之间的关系。我们将边界定义为由地域性、表征和不同的流动性和静止性可能性组成的关系空间。借鉴在里约热内卢贫民窟的研究，我们提出了一种系统方法来分析边界并确定社会制度、空间和象征元素，这些因素使它们或多或少有漏洞，从而或多或少地适合人类流动。我们强调了城市边界的孔隙率与人类发展之间的关联，并说明了对比里约热内卢两个贫民窟社区的模型。我们表明，贫民窟基层组织对社会文化环境的参与增加了内部城市边界的孔隙度，并有助于自我、社区和城市的发展。关注边界，它们的不同要素和孔隙度水平意味着同时解决城市空间的心理社会和文化层面，以及草根社会行动者通过社会文化环境的参与和符号学重建发展自己的新方式。