This study had as a guiding proposal to investigate the body and the city in the context of physical
activities that are performed in open spaces. The spatial delimitation of the research was Praça dos
Girassóis, located in the central area of Palmas, State of Tocantins, as it is a place used by the
population to carry out these activities. As a time frame, the period from 2006 to 2016 was adopted,
considering the ten years of systematization of the research by the Ministry of Health, which monitors
the population of Brazilian capitals in relation to risk factors for non-communicable chronic diseases,
such as the case of obesity. The publicity of the data, by the local press, attributed to Palmas the title of
the leanest capital in Brazil for presenting the lowest percentages related to obesity. This aspect led to
the assumption that surveillance and control mechanisms, which establish standards of normality,
influence the decision to perform physical activity, considering the need to ensure the maintenance of
the binary order, through the reinforcement of physical characteristics that validate constructions cultural
determinants for the attribution of differences between women and men. Therefore, it was outlined as a
general objective to analyze the reasons that led women and men to perform physical activities in Praça
dos Girassóis, which unfolds into four specific objectives, which are: 1. analyze the body's control
mechanisms; 2. reflect on the behavior of women and men who perform physical activities; 3. draw an
analogy between panoptic architecture and Praça dos Girassóis; 4. identify the factors that led to the
sociability of the place. Thus, the theoretical notions of biopower (FOUCAULT, 1999), the panopticon
(BENTHAM, 2005), gender (LAGARDE, 1996) and sociability (PESAVENTO, 2007) were adopted to
support the analysis developed. As a methodology, Oral History was used, based on the authors Portelli
(1996, 1997) and Thompson (2002), in view of the interest in the subjectivity inherent to oral and
documentary narratives. The research results showed that the mechanisms of surveillance and body
control influence the decision to practice physical activities in Praça dos Girassóis, however it is the
sociability developed between the subjects and the subjects that guarantees the daily practice in the
place.
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