Abarama Syndrome: the city facing the lessons from the climate catastrophe in RS

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on the possible lessons that the climate catastrophe that occurred in May 2024 in the state of Rio Grande do Sul can teach us about cities and education based on the hypothesis of the “Abarama Syndrome”. Its central question is: What does the climate catastrophe in the state tell us about cities and the way we build them and live in them, characterized as a set of social and imaginary symptoms? To this end, the novel by Josué Guimarães entitled “After the Last Train” is used as an interlocution and narrative thread to understand the “catastrophe poetics”. This is about a qualitative and exploratory study of a bibliographic nature, aiming at the interface between the climate event and its consequences for urban and educational thinking. The article aims to discuss the possible lessons that the event is capable of providing on the urban issue and the challenges of cities in the face of climate emergencies.