Cidade do estranhamento : remoções involuntárias no espaço urbano

Abstract

This study has its foundation in the city, living space of the majority of the world population and, therefore, locus of production and reproduction of social relations. This place is also where the work of many social workers in the interaction with the expressions of the social issue and its specifics as an urban question is developed. It has as a theme the right to the city and its counterpoint in the removal and involuntary resettlement processes in view of the commercialization of urban space and housing, since the housing policy becomes part of the capital financing system. This thesis aims to analyze how the right to the city is built in urban areas impacted by involuntary resettlement programs. In this regard, it has reference in the critical dialectic method and in the theoretical categories of totality, historicity, mediation and contradiction. Methodologically, a qualitative research was developed with two involuntary resettlement programs made to carry out infrastructure works in Porto Alegre city: the Socio-Environmental Integrated Program and the “Novo Tronco” Project. The research instruments used were participant observation with field diary records and semi-structured interviews with program managers and community leaders. The data were analyzed using the content analysis technique resulting in three categories of reality: perception about city production, daily life and relations between communities and public authority. The research results allow us to conclude that involuntary resettlement and resettlement programs are part of a broader set of actions leading by the business community of the city, implemented through the combination of State and market interests. Seen in these terms, the city, as a result of the human labor production, becomes strange to the workman, because he does not take part of the result of his own work. On one hand, the daily life of families affected by these processes is marked by feelings of loss, both material - housing, public places in the community, community achievements - and immaterial - neighborhood and community ties, solidarity networks and mental health. On the other, due the fact of these processes are marked by domination between State and a subaltern class and by inequalities of power, they are also producers of resistance.