Interdisciplinary work in consulting to urban social movements

This article is the product of reflections developed from activities within the scope of an extension program at the Fluminense Federal University / Brazil, "The public university and the right to the city: advice to social movements in the State of Rio de Janeiro". It discusses the experience of technical consultancy, as interdisciplinary university extension linked to social movements, where, by dialoguing with social movements, it seeks to enhance their protagonism, organizational capacity and autonomy in the struggle for social rights, particularly the right to the city and housing, now denied by the government. It takes as a reference case the advisory to the Forum of the Struggle for Housing, which is a space that brings together neighbors and leaders of the city of Niteroi/Rio de Janeiro/Brazil. It is organized in two parts, in addition to the introduction and concluding remarks. The first part presents a brief contextualization of urban and housing planning and the popular movement in the city of Niteroi; the second part discusses the practices, obstacles and challenges faced in this consultancy together with the Forum of the Struggle for Housing, pointing out the role of the public, free, secular, quality and socially referenced university.