Technologies and mapping procedures

The mapping process begins by defining routes for a rented van that seats about 10 people. The van circulates through neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro at night. Outings are planned based on reports from individuals or the media. When information about people experiencing homelessness or recyclable-material collection becomes public, the team discusses it. They then use this information for planning.

During each outing, the team records the locations of people encountered and marks them on Google’s interactive map, MyMaps. These data are later transferred to QGis, under an educational license issued by UFRJ. The Strava application is used to trace each route. It tracks the coordinator’s and team’s movements inside the van and on the streets. This process generates a dynamic 3D and 2D model.

Real-time georeferencing of the locations of people experiencing homelessness made nighttime incursions more precise and effective. For example, during an outing in the North Zone of Rio (Méier and Cachambi) on 21 November 2024, MyMaps displayed the exact number of people along each segment. It also showed sensitive information gathered through interviews. This enabled real-time data consolidation. All researchers could access this data at once, and later, others could as well.

The Google Maps ecosystem is a suite of mapping and GPS navigation services that allows users to search for, visualize, and get directions using integrated geographic data. This increases efficiency and enables collaboration among researchers.

Field incursions

Phase 1 of the segment “Affective cartographies of an invisible city” has been underway since late 2023. It aims to analyze specific strata of the city through direct inquiries in selected neighborhoods: Centro, Gamboa, Tijuca, Vila Isabel, Copacabana, Botafogo, Méier, and Cachambi. The research began with an initial sweep across the North, Central, and South Zones.

These inquiries showed from the start, during the first nighttime outing in downtown Rio, specifically in Cidade Nova, that a stratified methodological approach is needed. For this reason, the methodological process is structured around three sequential stages:

1> direct search for the location of people experiencing homelessness in predefined neighborhoods, through nighttime field outings supported by chartered transportation to ensure the team’s comfort and safety;

2> humanized support and direct dialogue with interlocutors, including the provision of food and explanatory material about the research;

3> application of semi-structured interviews, aimed at mapping nighttime points of permanence and daytime/afternoon movements, as well as recording personal narratives.

Social Methodology

The method, in its first phase (from late 2023 through 2024 and early 2025), has generated highly productive results. In 2024, the neighborhoods of Gamboa, Centro, Botafogo, Copacabana, Tijuca, and Vila Isabel were surveyed. More recently, in 2025, the neighborhoods of Méier, Bonsucesso, Cachambi, and Ramos were surveyed. It was confirmed that there is a routine or a motive underlying the act of wandering. This is expressed through activities as diverse as those practised by our interlocutors. It allows us to identify several categories of use of urban space.

The routes described by people experiencing homelessness are part of the everyday landscape of Rio de Janeiro. For example, during the first nighttime outing on 18 December 2023, it became clear that interlocutors’ overnight stay at the same site (the Correios building in Cidade Nova, at the entrance to downtown Rio) did not mean they lived as an inert community. On the contrary, they used that location strategically to wander during the day, sometimes covering more than 10 km. They engaged in various forms of labor, such as collecting recyclable materials, working as informal parking attendants – flanelinhas –, performing as street artists, or selling food products.

This first phase will continue to be developed throughout 2025 and 2026 to gather responses from other areas of the city, such as the West Zone and the Baixada.

Results, urban categories, and new interpretations of the city

The notion of wandering as an uncommitted action was abolished, as many participants reported actions directly tied to daily work. The non-wandering maps show the distances people travel in a day before returning to shared overnight spots.

Many interlocutors see themselves not as “homeless,” but as street workers facing economic hardship and mobility issues. Most “pendular workers” live in the West Zone, Baixada Fluminense, or nearby cities, far from their street jobs.

The small sample, interviewed from early 2024 to mid-2025 (approximately 160 people), showed that official city occupation concepts do not align with the material reality of urban plans.

Building on these observations, the findings highlight significant gaps between urban policy expectations and the actual lived experiences of those working and residing in public spaces.

As a result of these documented gaps, the research has revealed new directions for understanding the “working class” and urban territoriality, due to several factors:

1> recognition that “street workers” fulfill a social role such as cleaning sidewalks, guarding commercial doors, or collecting recyclables;

2> group overnight stays (3+ people, residents over a year) consolidate symbolic and identity space.

3> defining archetypal characters illustrates recurring ways of maintaining urban space, as in Sennett’s early metropolitan essays (2014).

During this research period, the most common activities were: recycler (38.6%), street vendor (14.3%), wandering/odd jobs (7.6%), parking attendant (6.7%), subsidized seller (4.2%), construction worker (4.2%), street performer (1.7%), sex work (1.7%). The remaining 21% indicated “no activity” or “unemployed.” Figure 13 maps these occupational categories to neighborhoods where they are most practiced.