Local action and prevention: A study about adolescents living in areas of socio-environmental risk

Abstract

The aim of this article is to discuss disaster prevention in the perspective of adolescents that live in areas with environmental risk in the city of São Paulo. To achieve our goals, we will first approach the current policies, guidelines and concepts that guide the actions of the Civil Defense in Brazil, especially those focusing on the prevention of disasters. We then present data from the risk workshops conducted between 2011 and 2013 with groups of adolescents living in this region. This research was based on a discursive psychology framework and used multiple tools for production and analysis of the information derived from the risk workshops. The results suggest that sharing knowedge and experiences is a valuable resource for encouraging the participation of youngs dwellers of risk areas in the development of local strategies for the prevention of disasters.