Às margens da cidade: estudo das transformações da paisagem de uma fração dos bairros Guarapes e Planalto

Abstract

As we move through contemporary cities it is common to observe a discontinuous spatial configuration, where dispersed human settlements mingle with natural or rural areas. These transformations of the landscape are often associated with the non-enforcement of regulations applied to the control of land use and occupation in areas of environmental protection, as well as with the implementation of large urban projects and the performance of public power with housing programs. Located in the Western Administrative Region of the municipality, and regulated by Municipal Law No. 4,912, dated December 19, 1997 (NATAL, 1997), the Environmental Protection Zone 4 is characterized by the association of dunes that define its limits and by the relatively flat areas in its interior. This ZPA covers part of the neighborhoods Felipe Camarão, Guarapes and Planalto, that conform a peripheral urban area, and have their occupation processes started from the middle of the XX century. The law that defines the use and occupation of the soil of this ZPA divides it into three subzones (SZ-1, SZ-2, SZ-3). As the Subzone 3 (SZ3) has a flat topographic configuration and is therefore more suitable for occupation than the other zones, and has been regulated during the 1994 Master Plan (Natal, 1994), its parameters are related to that plan, including those that are applied to the Density Zone, without specific propositions related to the preservation of natural environments or to remediation of the areas of social vulnerability that exist there. Thus, the occupation within this fraction has been growing in recent years, with the presence of informal settlements, and, more recently, housing developments in the Program Minha Casa Minha Vida (PMCMV), generating spatial conformations and environmental degradation actions which impact the natural features of the protected area. This work was developed with the objective of understanding the landscape transformations of a fraction of the universe of study (Subzone 3 - SZ3 of ZPA 4), showing the environmental and landscape attributes of the place, in order to contribute to the updating of the control guidelines. In order to reach this objective, a bibliographic review of the proposed themes, the conceptual and normative aspects of the sustainable development of the cities, the peripheral urban spaces and the management of the landscape was carried out, as well as a spatial analysis that contemplated urbanistic and landscape aspects of the universe of study.