Conflitos socioambientais da expansão urbana em Maceió – AL: a APA do Catolé e Fernão Velho e o Bairro Santos Dumont

Abstract

This dissertation has as its object of study the Environmental Protection Area - EPA of Catolé and Fernão Velho, especially the section where district Santos Dumont is in Maceió, Alagoas. Currently, it is common to find news related to the degradation of EPAs and the socioenvironmental conflicts arising from the occupation of these areas and the lack of adequate infrastructure for a good quality of life for its residents. In the case of the Catolé and Fernão Velho EPA, there is uncontrolled occupation and invasion of its limits in some stretches. This fact causes tensions between public agents and residents. The present work aims to carry out a characterization of these conflicts, given the importance of the area for the supply of the city, and the precariousness of the local infrastructure services. Therefore, the general objective of this work is to analyze the conditions for the creation, implementation and development of an Environmental Protection Area - EPA, in an area of urban expansion, through the diagnosis of the area, highlighting socio-environmental conflicts and their relationship with planning and urban and environmental management. The specific objectives are: a) to understand the process of creation and implementation of an EPA in an urban area, through the analysis of urban-environmental legal instruments; b) detailing the relationship between the EPA and urban expansion based on the characterization of the relationship between the APA of Catolé and Fernão Velho and the urbanization of the Santos Dumont neighborhood; c) analyze the existing socio-environmental conflicts in the APA of Catolé and Fernão Velho, from the point of view of the intervening actors in the area; and d) discuss the situation of EPAs in areas of urban expansion, noting how urban and environmental planning and management processes can be improved. The methodological procedures include bibliographic review on the main thematic axes of the research: socio-environmental impacts, urban expansion, conservation units and socio-environmental conflicts, analysis of public policies and related legislation; photographic records; interviews with public actors; interviews with local leaders and application of questionnaires to residents and elaboration of thematic maps. In terms of analysis criteria, it seeks to cross the aspects of interest described in the Study of Neighborhood Impacts (SNI) and in the Study of Environmental Impacts (SEI) with the help of the Post-Occupation Assessment (POA) methodology. The concepts and methods of landscape ecology were also used to support the use of data from the IBGE census sector, to provide a general characterization of the Santos Dumont neighborhood regarding the situation of water supply, sanitary sewage and waste collection. The dissertation seeks to contribute to the articulation between environmental and urban issues, in addition to analyzing an important but little-studied area of the city of Maceió and highlighting the need for understanding by all interested parties, providing listening to the residents, who normally are not considered in the definition of public policies.