Do you live in the city or in the countryside? If you live in the city, are you served by services such as garbage collection, treated water, sewage collection, public lighting, etc.? Life in cities, due to the large concentration of population in small spaces, needs some services, such as those mentioned above, so that it can guarantee a minimum of life conditions people.
The departure from the countryside, from the countryside, to the cities is a characteristic taken up by Western capitalist society. The industrial and commercial concentration in urban spaces caused people to live in places close to these regions.
In Europe, this process intensified in the nineteenth century. In Brazil, the urbanization process took place mainly in the 20th century. During the colonial and imperial period, cities were created, but they must be considered as isolated cases, since the predominant economic activity was linked to agricultural production.
Even in the 20th century, although the first decades saw the emergence of cities, especially the capitals of the states or in the area of coffee production, it was only in the second half of the century that this process was intensified. The urbanization of the Brazilian population was so great that, in the first decade of the 21st century, around 85% of the population lived in urban areas.
But in order to live with a minimum of quality in urban areas, certain conditions are necessary. And this is where one of the main problems that arise in urban life in Brazilian cities comes in, marked by a profound inequality in the distribution of these conditions necessary for urban life.
The first of these conditions are the dwellings. To be able to rest, prepare food and carry out other household tasks, people need to be protected by a roof. However, not everyone has their own home. In these cases, they are required to pay rent to people or companies that own surplus homes. There are also cases of companies that buy large plots of land, in areas considered to be of good location, to carry out large residential and commercial works, such as buildings and shopping malls, with the objective of profiting from selling to people. This situation is known as real estate speculation and is influencing several urban changes in cities in recent times.
On the other hand, the poorest population that cannot afford these houses, or even pay the rents, is forced to move to the outskirts of cities, where they manage to build their housing. But most of the time, these dwellings are built in inappropriate places, such as on hillsides and on the banks of rivers and streams. These buildings are subject to constant insecurity due to the risk of flooding and landslides due to rain, for example.
In these areas there are still other problems that arise for a better quality of life for people, such as the lack of basic sanitation. The provision of treated and potable water, as well as garbage and sewage collection services is essential. to prevent the proliferation of diseases and epidemics, thus ensuring minimum conditions for survival. In this sense, basic sanitation policies should be treated as public health policies.
Other essential conditions for life in cities today are related to the transport and transit systems for people and goods. The concentration of a large number of people in cities creates problems of displacement of these same people through urban spaces.
The use of individual transports, such as cars, generates congestion problems and an increase in the time spent on travel. Public transport would be a way to avoid this situation, but the lack of investment in mass public transport, such as buses and trains, allied the private corporate control that exists over these services prevents people from seeing public transport as a satisfactory form of commuting.
The issue of displacement is related to urban mobility, a necessary element for people to have access to the various services in the city. If there are difficulties in urban mobility, there are difficulties for people to go to places where health, education and cultural services are offered, for example. These difficulties prevent people from having full access to these services, creating obstacles to their right to move through urban spaces.
In order to have quality life in cities, it is necessary for people to be able to decide on the ways in which the conditions for a minimally dignified life in urban spaces are offered and performed.
By Tales Pinto
Graduated in History
