ENTREPRENEURS OF PUBLIC SPACES: STRATEGIES OF USE, COMMODIFICATION, AND CONSUMPTION IN GASTRONOMIC AND CULTURAL FAIRS IN THE CITY OF SALVADOR

Abstract

This article analyzes the appropriation of public spaces in Salvador through gastronomic and cultural fairs, such as “A Feira da Cidade” and “Salvador Boa Praça.” Considering that these events attract a considerable audience and occupy squares, parks and open spaces in the city, engendering a process of commodification that utilizes the tactics (De Certeau, 1988) and meanings of the “creative economy” and entrepreneurship, this study seeks to understand whether these actions are establishing a neoliberal rationality over public spaces, reconfiguring social relations and intersubjectivities (Dardot; Laval, 2016). To this end, bibliographic research was conducted – including the construction of an analytical model – direct and participant observations, data generation in digital media using WebScraping techniques (Fernandes, 2017), and qualitative analysis with the Atlas.ti software. The results indicate that this rationality permeates not only markets and companies but also individual practices and urban uses. There is a predominance of these events in middle/upper-class neighborhoods, with curations that align products and attractions to the “desired” consumers, also functioning as incubators for new enterprises. Thus, the fairs transform spaces into loci of entrepreneurship and commodification, reconstructing social interactions and converting citizens into consumers and entrepreneurs. Companies, in turn, see economic potential in these events, adhering to the proposed logic. However, the practices undertaken tend to exclude the heterogeneity of the public and are marked by the commodification of the city, reflecting a neoliberal logic that influences the social and economic organization of the urban environment.