Abstract
This paper describes the historical process of urban-legal reform in Brazil since the late 1970s, especially since the promulgation of the 1988 Federal Constitution and the enactment of the 2001 City Statute. It discusses how the new legal order has consolidated the notion of the "right to the city" in the country, meaning the inseparable combination of the principle of the social functions of property and the city, and the principle of democratic management of cities. Special emphasis is given to the actions of the main sociopolitical stakeholders in this process, as well as to the possibilities and constraints of the new legal order. It argues that the promotion of urban reform and inclusive land, housing and urban policies requires an elusive combination of political, institutional and legal change, and that the effective utilisation of the new legal spaces created by the new legal order depends on the constant renewal of sociopolitical mobilisation in the country.
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Notes
Data on the urbanisation process in Brazil can be found in several sources, the main one being the site of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics–IBGE (www.ibge.gov.br); for some recent analytical studies, see Fernandes and Valenca (2001).
I have discussed the legal basis of the historical process of urban development in Brazil elsewhere; see Fernandes (2002a).
Although it is less popular in Brazil than it is internationally, the impressive case of Curitiba demonstrates that many problems with the legal order may be successfully overcome if there is a solid political–institutional pact in place; in any case, Curitiba is indeed the exception that proves the rule, because of the conservative and even exclusionary nature of the city planning strategies adopted in that city until recently. For a general reference, see Schwartz (2004); see also Fernandes (1995c).
See Kowarick (1994) for analyses on the social mobilisation processes in Sao Paulo.
For a critical analysis of the first stage of the regularisation programme in Belo Horizonte, see Fernandes (1993).
For a broader analysis of the urban reform movement, see M. L. de Souza (2001).
For an analysis of the Brazilian experience of metropolitan administration between 1973 and 1988, see Fernandes (1992b).
For a broad discussion of the new urban-legal order and the City Statute, see Fernandes (2007b).
For a detailed analysis of the National Programme, see Fernandes (2006).
For a critical analysis of the experiences of participatory budgeting, see Fernandes (2010).
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Fernandes, E. Implementing the Urban Reform Agenda in Brazil: Possibilities, Challenges, and Lessons. Urban Forum 22, 299–314 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-011-9124-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-011-9124-y