Construção das políticas urbanas em Lavras-MG: a busca pelo direito à cidade em um espaço disputado

Abstract

Urban expansion in West Lavras in recent years has been the scene of numerous conflicts and violations of rights. The role of the local government, as a central agent for the promotion of urban policy through the Municipal Master Plan, has been challenged by different actors, including organized civil society and the Minas Gerais Public Prosecutor, who promote the right to the city in Lavras. Thus, the guiding question of the research is: How has the action of the Public Prosecution Service and civil society organizations produced effects on urban policy in the city of Lavras, Minas Gerais? In this thesis, it is assumed that the return of the use value of the city comes from different actors that tension the local urban policy in order to guarantee the right to participate in the decision-making processes that shape the urban space. The general objective is to understand how the action of the Public Prosecution Service and of a neighborhood association influence urban policy in the city of Lavras, Minas Gerais, specifically: (i) to understand the genesis of the concept of the right to the city and its main aspects to the study of contradictions in the production of social space, (ii) describe historical aspects of the western area of Lavras, particularizing the socio-political elements of its urban expansion, (iii) understand the contradictions and conflicts between different agents that regulate and dispute the right to the city, emphasizing the social role of a neighborhood association in this process, and (iv) understand the role of the Public Prosecution Service in mediating conflicts arising from the ambiguity between use value and exchange value inherent in the production of urban space. To achieve these objectives, the present dissertation was structured in three scientific articles: “Right to the city: a review of scientific production (1995-2018)”, “Organization of urban space: instruments of regulation and participation in Lavras, Minas Gerais”, and“ Conflicts in Lavras-MG urban policy: the right to the city in dispute ”. The theoretical framework is based on Henri Lefebvre's thinking and his widely discussed concept of right to the city, treated as a right under construction to a renewed city, to participate and appropriate the urban social space. The research is characterized as qualitative and descriptive, with primary and secondary sources of data, obtained through observation, document analysis and interviews, systematized through thematic analysis. The results of the articles point to the insufficient performance of the City Hall in the implementation of urban policy and, consequently, in the promotion of the right to the city - the revision of the Master Plan, a central instrument of urban policy, lacks social participation and is delayed, considering the deadlines provided for by law and the Public Civil Action filed by the Public Prosecution Service of Minas Gerais, This, through the 3rd Prosecutor of Justice of Lavras, Housing Curator and Urbanism, supported by the actions of a neighborhood association, has promoted changes in the performance even canceling land registration permits near the mining area.