Dialogues between knowledge: the organization of the community garden with residents of Abussafe/Londrina/Paraná

Abstract

In Brazilian cities, faced with the rapid urbanization process, countless families have been residing in precarious areas, called here irregular occupations (favelas) and are exposed to a situation of socio-environmental vulnerability. Among the main problems, attention is drawn to food insecurity, which in the post-Covid-19 period has affected countless families with less or without purchasing power. In this context, attention is drawn to the city of Londrina, which has approximately 74 areas of irregular occupation. The objective of this article is to discuss the first actions carried out with the community from the extension project carried out by a group of researchers linked to the State University of Londrina/UEL, entitled “Dialogues and Environmental Education Together with the Residents of Fundo de Vale da Comunidade do Abuses”. This is a research with a qualitative approach supported by surveys of secondary sources of information (scientific production, documents and official websites) and primary sources (simple observation, visits to the neighborhood and meetings with residents). It was found that families in irregular occupation are in a situation of social vulnerability and food insecurity. And that the families of irregular occupation and residents of the nearby formal neighborhood want to create a community garden and neighborhood association. It is concluded that the dialogue involving the university, residents of the neighborhood and occupation is a fruitful path in the process of building collective actions that may contribute to improving the quality of life of families in a situation of food insecurity.