Geraldo Magela Costa

Urban water management and planning: urban sanitation policies and an emerging institutional structure

Brazilian urban politics for the last two decades have been marked by the emergence of organised sectors of civil society who progressively reclaimed their roles as subjects. Both society and state were substantially transformed in such process, and urban and environmental policies, sanitation included, based on citizens’ participation are an important and visible outcome. Participatory budgeting, national and municipal committees, municipal conferences, master plans at different geographical scales are now widespread among progressive governments. They define priorities for public resource allocation according to demands usually associated to the incomplete character of Brazilian urbanisation (where several items of material reproduction, such as housing, services and infrastructure, are missing), bringing together conflicting interests of different social agents. Departing from such approach to urbanisation, the empowering idea of citizen’s participation, and the changing context of urban policy formulation at the national level.