DIAGNOSIS OF URBAN PERMEABLE BACKYARDS DUE TO INCOME AUTONOMY IN SIX NEIGHBORHOODS IN THE CITY OF PIRACICABA

Abstract

Urban backyards are areas around the houses, which although they seem individually irrelevant, together forms adequate patches of habitats in the urban matrix. The present work aims to describe the presence of permeable backyards with plant species in six neighborhoods of the city of Piracicaba and to correlate the presence and use of backyards with the income autonomy of the neighborhoods. It was carried out a research in 2010, through visits and semi-structured interviews, in which the presence of a permeable yard (direct observation) was raised; plants present on the site, which were classified as utilitarian and ornamental; in the houses that did not own a yard, the residents explained the reasons that led to their absence. The income autonomy indexes of the neighborhoods and the percentages of species of functional species in the backyards were analyzed. It was found that permeable backyards are more frequent in upper class and lower class neighborhoods, and are less frequent in middle class neighborhoods. Ornamental plants were more often observed in upper-class neighborhoods and in poorer neighborhoods functional (food and medicinal) plants. Among the reasons for the low presence of permeable backyards in middle-class neighborhoods is the lack of space and demand for maintenance.