Direito à cidade e a produção do espaço urbano : o Veículo Leve sobre Trilhos e a segregação urbana em Fortaleza

Abstract

The priorotization of large projects rather than urban planning has been a recurring practice in cities, since it is a way of guaranteeing the absorption of capital, generally affecting the most economically vulnerable populations, who have more difficult access to legalized land. In this sense, the case of Fortaleza’s LRV (Light Rail Vehicle) is just one in many that happen in Fortaleza and in different places of the world. This project was idealized in the 2000s and had the World Cup as a justification for its construction, ensuring resources for such, as well as the argument that families installed decades in their vicinity would need to be removed quickly in order to enable the completion of the work in time for the event. Therefore, this thesis seeks to make a historical rescue of the arrival of these families and the formation of these communities, which occurred with the development of the city of Fortaleza. Those communities are currently located close to the most valued neighborhoods of the city. Secondly, this work reconstitutes the trajectory of construction, the relations, roles and interests of the agents involved, the forms of resistance undertaken, and, finally, the results of the process, both for the formal city, and for the residents of the communities affected, such as the evolution of the housing alternatives offered, possible variations in the market value of the properties and the state of the communities during the execution of the work. Then, a study is made of the resettlement conditions in six plots proposed for the construction of housing units directed to affected families. Five of them are small housing estates near impacted communities, and have not yet begun construction. The last one is a large joint in the outskirts of the city, whose construction was completed and is the most encouraged alternative for the residents.