Toponymy and public safety: the case of the Vila-Flor neighbourhood in the municipality of Cazenga - Luanda

O caso do Bairro Vila-Flor no município do Cazenga - Luanda

Abstract

Everyone hopes for the best security conditions. Thus, the movement of people and goods, which has occurred and continues to occur throughout the global or territorial space, may be at stake in this endeavour. Or it may be due to problems related to political, social and economic factors. In the case of Angola, it is known that war was one of the reasons. As a result, many peripheral neighbourhoods sprang up like mushrooms, unstructured and without government oversight to take toponymic considerations into account. Accordingly, the objective of the study is to understand the relevance of toponymy in public safety, in the case of the Vila-Flor neighbourhood in the municipality of Cazenga. The approach to the problem fits into the qualitative paradigm, crossed with holistic and structuralist theories and the technique of data collection in books, articles, the Diário da República (Official Gazette) and informal interviews conducted with (1) one of the heads of the Vila-Flor residents' committee, (5) five residents of the neighbourhood and (1) a former police station commander, as well as the report from the Madeira Police Station. The content analysis technique allowed us to conclude that public defence and security agencies, in the case of the Angolan National Police, have faced difficulties during intervention actions when called to respond to various situations due to access issues, the lack of street names, cross streets and alleys, lack of numbering of houses and shacks, as well as the poor condition of the paving on access roads. This difficulty is also acknowledged by the fire and emergency medical services.