In memoriam, remember, celebrate

Abstract

It is with great satisfaction that we publish the 11th edition of Thésis Magazine, a periodical of ANPARQ - National Association of Graduate Studies and Research in Architecture and Urbanism. We editors ask ourselves: should we celebrate one more edition? It's hard to think about celebrating something after such an overwhelming year. If at the end of 2020 there was a glimmer of optimism and hope with the decrease in the numbers of infected and killed by COVID-19 and with the first applications of vaccines in several countries, as early as mid-February of this year, a cruel reality imposed itself with the new waves and new variants, leaving a trail of devastation and ruins of great proportions. The planet throughout 2021, terrified by the daily death toll - greater than those of a war - could not imagine that we would reach days in which more than 3000 human beings would lose their lives without doctors, health workers and the complex of health. collective health, could prevent such a catastrophe. The shavings and debris, shards,
sequels and impacts of these two years on world society and on affected populations — and what is yet to come — are neither measurable nor understandable. From a macroeconomic point of view maybe so; in fact, as always, there are predictions everywhere. The BIS (Bank of International Settlements), for example, has just announced the arrival of a “dense inflationary cloud” over Latin America. In Africa, the effects of preventive measures against the new Ômicron variant already indicate processes of economic deterioration. But what about the disruptive social, environmental and economic effects - especially on the most vulnerable parts of societies -, the psychological sequelae, the impacts on cultural production and on the way of living the "new normal", the transformation by forceps of consolidated habits and the obscurantist political broth that finds a favorable environment to trickle down through scorched earth? These are not measurable or predictable and escape the collective perception of society largely forged in social media. There is definitely not something to celebrate, but certainly something to remember.