Leisure, Urban Planning and Socio-Spatial Segregation: Reflections on the City of Belo Horizonte - Brazil.

This article presents partial results of a study achieved by the master's thesis defended at the Postgraduate Program in Leisure Studies, at the Federal University of Minas Gerais - Brazil, where answers were sought to understand the engagement of young people from working - class areas to the events and equipments of Sports, Leisure and Culture in the city of Belo Horizonte. The research method used was the bibliographic review of the history of urban planning of Belo Horizonte, in which concerns the construction and distribution of leisure equipments throughout the city. The study’s findings have shown that since its foundation, the poor have been segregated and have gained limited access to leisure equipments. The reorganization of urban space from the perspective of construction of leisure facilities, such as public parks, cultural centers and sports areas, took place almost one hundred years after the foundation of the city, together with the rise of popular parties to the state power of the city, from the creation of mechanisms for participatory democracy.