Family vulnerability and risk territories

Ignez Costa Barbosa Ferreira, Universidade de Brasília
Nelba Azevedo Penna, Universidade de Brasília

This paper focuses on the vulnerability of families according to the conditions of the territory (opportunities, needs and risk) of the city in which they live. How do the dwelling families react to the territory’s needs and peculiarities? To what extent do the risks build up from one generation to another becoming a barrier to social change? In this context, we point out the vulnerability of youths aged between 15 and 29 in the metropolitan region of Brasília, capital of Brazil, which is evidenced by high rates of mortality by homicide. This paper discusses how this situation brings tragic consequences to the families and to the places where they live. The family is deprived from their members, complicating their social mobility and effecting future generations. As well as violence, other backward doings act on the community in the place. Risk territories are then created, which aggravate exclusion and vulnerability.