Leisure and Work in Contemporary Urban-Metropolitan Space: Perspectives, Tendencies, and Utopias

Abstract

The starting point for the discussion proposed in this chapter is the premise that the production of leisure spaces is inseparable and dialectically related to the production of work spaces in contemporary cities and metropolises. It is also based on the assumption that capital-work/work-leisure relationships have undergone relevant modifications in recent decades, which should be considered in the analysis of the proposed theme. The aim is to characterize the economic, political, social, and cultural transformations of capital-work/work-leisure relationships in the contemporary world, starting from the consolidation of industrial society and the modern era, and moving on to present a specific case study of working-class neighborhoods in Salvador and Feira de Santana, about the work and leisure of micro-entrepreneurs, the proprietors of micro-businesses, and consumers in neighborhoods in the study, indicating and problematizing these transformations in a spatial-temporal context. Based on the concepts of “creative idleness” and “telework”, the discussion is widened to dwell how on the changes in capital-work/work-leisure relationships may impact on daily life in cities and metropolises and on the consequences for the use and appropriation of urban public spaces, based on the trends presented here, deepening a prospective vision of these impacts in an urban and metropolitan context.