De patrimônio ferroviário à vila regularizada: transformações na estrutura fundiária em Belo Horizonte a partir do caso da Vila Edgard Werneck

Abstract

Between 1976 and 1982, the Municipality of Belo Horizonte carried out the land regularisation process of Vila Edgard Werneck, a railway neighbourhood located next to the Workshop Yards of the former Federal Railway Network (Rede Ferroviária Federal S.A. - RFFSA). Identified as a favela by the census surveys conducted for this purpose in 1955 and 1965, its regularisation took place even before the approval of the Profavela Law (Municipal Programme for the Regularisation of Favelas). Through the acquisition of land belonging to the railway company, the municipality designed the subdivision layout, implemented urban infrastructure works, and transferred individual property titles to the residents. Despite this significant municipal precedent, no previous study has examined Vila Edgard Werneck from the perspective of urban land. This dissertation aims to scrutinise the transformations in land tenure forms in Vila Edgard Werneck, demonstrating that its regularisation process was part of a broader shift in the relationships between people and property, tending towards their reduction to modern property. It thus investigates the different forms of access to land that emerged there – from the initial establishment of consented possession, through its period of contestation, to its transformation into a new form of property, free from any specific obligations to RFFSA and detached from the professional category of railway workers. Based on a micro-analytical approach to the history of property, the research draws upon a wide range of sources – documents, cartographies, iconographies, and oral testimonies. Among the various archival institutions visited, particular emphasis is given to the collection of the former Regional Superintendency of Belo Horizonte (SR-2) from RFFSA, currently under the custody of the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT). The dissertation is structured in three chapters, in addition to the Introduction and Final Considerations. The first chapter traces the occupation and consolidation of Vila Edgard Werneck in Belo Horizonte, characterising the relationship of consented possession established in the neighbourhood. The second chapter examines the tensions surrounding this form of possession, analysing the agents, institutions, legislation, and regulations involved, in order to contextualise it within the broader framework of RFFSA’s land control policies. The final chapter addresses the process of land regularisation itself, exploring the growing tension between the formal and informal city in Belo Horizonte. Finally, the research discusses the agents and conflicts involved in this process, reflecting on its position in relation to broader issues such as the struggle for housing and the defence of private property.