In Brazil, unfortunately, several problems resulting from the rains throughout the first months of the year have become common in various regions of the country. Floods, landslides, destruction and lives cut short as a result of severe storms permeate the news at that time, but the causes of these tragedies are not revealed only by understanding the logic of natural phenomena. Explanations are more complex and a closer look at the process of conformation of urban agglomerations is necessary to outline a broader understanding.
From the second half of the 20th century, Brazil underwent an acceleration of its industrialization process and, consequently, of urbanization, a moment in which the population stopped being mostly rural to become urban. In this sense, the urban centers in which industries and commerce were concentrated began to receive a huge contingent of people coming from the most different regions of the country in search of better employment, income and quality of life. A clear example of this process of migration and rural exodus is what took place in the Southeast region of the country, mainly in the city of São Paulo and its region metropolitan area, in which individuals from the North and Northeast of the country arrived for work as industrial workers or as labor in the construction. Thus, a social demand for urban housing, equipment and infrastructure arose. However, only the peripheral regions that over the decades would form the so-called suburbs remained, the vast majority with infrastructure deficiencies fundamental such as running water, sewage system, electricity, public transport, in addition to land not always with favorable topographical conditions for construction of houses.
However, not even properties in subdivisions with all this precariousness (despite the low prices) could be acquired by everyone. The remaining option was to occupy hills, slopes, riverbanks and streams, now invading public and private areas, giving rise to the slums (now classified by institutions such as the IBGE) as normal agglomerations, sometimes acquiring land in irregular subdivisions or clandestine.
In a study carried out by CEBRAP – Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning, in 1975, at the request of Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace of the Archdiocese of São Paulo, in which names such as Cândido Procópio F. de Camargo, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and José Álvaro Moisés were part of it, data and alarming analyzes regarding the type of disordered growth that occurred in the metropolitan region of the capital São Paulo. According to the study, “the dizzying demographic growth of the Region, which between 1960-1970 was 5.5% per year, together with the process of retaining the land awaiting appreciation, it led to the emergence of more and more neighborhoods distant. Populations gather in distant areas, far from the workplace, imposing ever greater distances for travel. The process of creating 'sleeping cities' is accentuated, true encampments devoid of infrastructure” (CAMARGO, 1975, p. 29).
Obviously, the process of occupying the land and settling residence was conditioned by the social class of the families (and it still is today, despite the important transformations in Brazil's social and economic situation in recent decades), which explained the high concentration of people in places with precarious housing and infrastructure. “The spatial distribution of the population in the city follows, thus, the social condition of the inhabitants, reinforcing the existing inequalities [...]; Today [1975], the expression 'periphery', which is used to designate the districts furthest from the center, has become synonymous, in certain areas, with the notion of marginalization or social exclusion" (ibid., p. 23). Although the aforementioned research is almost forty years old, much of its evaluations are still valid today in the 21st century, because, according to the Municipal Secretariat of São Paulo City Hall, there were more than 1600 favelas in the city in 2008, which suggests that precarious housing and housing is still a phenomenon recent. The City Council of São Paulo published at the end of 2011 on its website that the deficit real housing for families leaving risk areas that are undergoing urbanization is now 130 thousand units. In addition, the population growth projection for 2024 points to a deficit of 610,000 new residences for families that will emerge until 2024 and whose income should be less than three salaries minimum.
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However, this picture is not exclusive to São Paulo, but is repeated in many other metropolitan regions throughout Brazil. Thus, not for free, attention is drawn to this problem of irregular or disorderly land occupation in large cities urban areas, as this phenomenon creates risky conditions, exposing thousands of families to the possibility of tragedies caused by rains. It should be considered that the exacerbated impermeability of the soil, the deforestation of slopes and regions close to what is considered as the natural bed of rivers and the constant land movements that contribute to their silting are other direct consequences of urban growth, and at the same time complicating the problems arising from the rainy season. Therefore, it is important to reflect on the factors that effectively end up problematizing this situation. It is essential that, in the evaluation of mechanisms for dealing with problems of this order, the direct consequences and influences resulting from human action, mainly from the point of view of land use and occupation messy.
There is a direct relationship between the demographic growth of the urban population and the disorganized use and occupation of land, with a lack or ineffectiveness of effective planning. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the responsibility of the State in all instances (municipal, state and federal) with regard not only to simple inspection to prevent the formation of housing in local of risk. It is about the need to formulate broader public policies that take account of the deficit existing housing in large capitals, metropolitan regions and urban centers general.
The mere awareness of individuals regarding the imminent dangers that exist in certain places such as slopes, landfill areas and river banks and streams is not enough given the condition of social exclusion, a limiting factor in the possibilities of choice and access to decent housing and safe. It is known that the process of regularizing these areas is far from simple, but rather difficult because it involves many conflicting interests. However, the existing difficulties do not redeem or reduce the need for effective actions by the Government. Therefore, it is not only natural issues that so punish Brazilian society, but, fundamentally, others of a political and social nature.
Paulo Silvino Ribeiro
Brazil School Collaborator
Bachelor in Social Sciences from UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
Master in Sociology from UNESP - São Paulo State University "Júlio de Mesquita Filho"
Doctoral Student in Sociology at UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
