Heloisa Soares de Moura Costa

Edgeless and Eccentric Cities or New Peripheries

Abstract Changes in the organisation of social space, set in motion by the third industrial revolution, affected the spatial distribution of production and population, challenging established conceptions of centralities and urban networks at different scales. Temporal continuities and simultaneities are replacing spatial ones, as urban agglomerations expand in scattered ways. Material and immaterial economic flows are followed by economic and political spatial rearrangements. Eccentric centralities outside urban agglomerations emerge as a result of these spatial movements. The concept of centre-periphery used to be essential to distinguish differences, inequalities and asymmetries in social space, but contemporary urban and metropolitan sprawl defies previous centre-periphery correlations. Our goal is to discuss the changing notion of centralities within contemporary urbanisation. Hence following a theoretical approach on centralities, poles and positioning, the spatial context of the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region is explored as it is experiencing an increasing spatial dispersion of economic activities, population and political power against an historical backdrop of strong centre-periphery relationships. Finally as a closure after analysing the spatial outcome of the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region and its perspectives, some questions are enrolled to help to understand the challenges posed to metropolitan planning, in the context of economic articulation with the more general global process and socio- environmental and political requirements usually prevailing at the local/metropolitan leve

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.

Social segregation as externalization of environmental conflicts: the elitization of the environment in the APA - Sul, Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte

The article discusses the importance of research results about dissipative systems aiming a proper interpretation of society understood as an evolutionary system. In agreement with this interpretation, it argues that sustainable development should be taken as an open process, whose promotion should include the improvement of systemic properties in societies such as substantial freedom of people and collective intelligence of social groups.This paper deals with power relations within the consultative council of APA-Sul, a conservation area situated in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte. About this council, it has been observed that the popular sectors are underrepresented and the higher middle class representatives are concerned about the “slumization” of the region. Consequently, an environmental conflict arises around the loss of environmental quality in the area which is partly associated with the emergence of low income settlements. This equation creates opportunities for discourses that try to justify social segregation in the area and the elitization of the landscape at stake.

Viver próximo à saúde em Belo Horizonte

A definicao de unidades espaciais como locus preferencial na prestacao do cuidado em saude e desafiadora quando se buscam modelos assistenciais que reduzam as iniquidades de acesso aos servicos de saude e os humanizem, integrando dados demograficos, socioeconomicos, culturais e ambientais, configurando localmente os determinantes sociais da saude. Este estudo introduz uma analise da localizacao das Unidades Basicas de Saude (UBS) nos distritos sanitarios de Belo Horizonte, comparando as divisoes administrativas adotadas com as obtidas pelo teste cartografico de influencia de acesso as UBS. Demonstra-se a potencialidade de investigacoes futuras sobre o territorio da cidade na busca de melhores localizacoes e acesso as UBS, acenando para o enriquecimento do debate sobre os rumos da saude urbana no Brasil.