Intraurban scale and the analysis of cities: a methodological proposal for teacher training

Abstract

The results presented in this article are part of a study conducted during a master’s program, which aimed to identify the potential of the concept of the intra-urban scale for the analysis of cities in initial teacher education. Our challenge was to address this theme in the education of pre-service pedagogues in a way that would overcome epistemological obstacles and enable students to develop a solid conceptual foundation in geographical science. One of the learning situations implemented during the research was the writing of a letter about the city in which one lives, addressed to someone unfamiliar with it. What is the perception of those who live in it? Which elements of the landscape did the students highlight? In what ways do the concepts of form, function, process, structure, and intra-urban scale emerge in their responses? The activity was carried out with 43 students enrolled in a pedagogy program and aimed to mobilize, through the analysis of the city (as a lived space), the notion of intra-urban scale, as well as to observe whether students considered geographical concepts and the principle of geographical scale in their interpretations. Based on the activity, the results revealed students’ perceptions of the city in which they live and how geographical concepts and principles are present in their analyses and perceptions of the lived city.