Universidades e suas áreas verdes:

lugares sonhados, territórios imaginados e contextos reais.

Abstract

The paper discusses the educational status of green areas that belong to universities, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is the result of research in eight universities in the state that have green areas under their legal responsibility. The typology of these areas varied between Vegetable Gardens, Botanical Gardens, Permanent Preservation Areas, Legal Reserves, Private Natural Heritage Reserves and Wildlife Refuge. The research used participant-observation techniques, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The results describe the unstable trajectories and the various ways of emptying the sense of place of these spaces. The existence of these areas seems to depend more on people from the academic community, teachers, researchers and volunteers engaged in their preservation than on the institutional guarantee. Even if universities are charged for environmentally responsible and sustainable management, the management of green areas that belong to them is uncertain and fragile.