Produção ocial do espaço na RMBH: diferenças na urbanização do vetor Leste de expansão

Abstract

Given that space is the locus of human activity and the city is the genesis of capitalist society, essential to its reproduction, the urban problematic emerges, presenting globally complex challenges that test the sufficiency of traditional macrosocial analyses and highlight a crisis in critical paradigms. This crisis is not only theoretical; it is also socio-environmental, originating from industrial urbanization and the consequent transformation of natural space into built space. Extensive urbanization, which tends to exploit all possible areas, demands a critical approach that considers the multiple forms of production and their environmental and social impacts. Within this dynamic lies the Belo Horizonte metropolis, the third largest in Brazil, with approximately 5 million inhabitants and a wealth generation of around 100 billion reais in 2021. Intrinsic to this spatial configuration are the social inequalities inherent to the mode of production and urbanization of contemporary cities. Considering the development of the Belo Horizonte metropolis, it is evident that this development occurred more significantly towards the West and North, especially driven by industrialization projects. To the South, following the pattern experienced in the central municipality, the occupation developed by a higher-income population. The issues guiding this dissertation thus arise from the initial perception that there might be some differentiation in the urbanization process of the Eastern expansion vector of the RMBH. In this sense, the objective of this dissertation is to understand and characterize such differences and list the possible motivators of this differentiation and its consequences. In the development of this exploratory research, data from secondary sources were used to understand the demographic and socioeconomic aspects of the RMBH, along with documentary and historical research, including the strategies and plans developed by the State in an attempt to promote the planning of the RMBH. By applying the technique of document analysis, with an analytical stance on the reproduction of meaning, which allows the interpretation of the relationship between the subjective meaning of action, social practices, and the social context in which the practices under analysis occur. This research initially found that in contemporary times, the Eastern expansion vector of the RMBH shows less socioeconomic dynamism. Historical research highlighted the relevance of the Eastern region during the implementation of the new state capital in the early 20th century, but subsequent planning actions directed urban and economic development to other directions. It is, therefore, evident that there is differentiation in the urban space produced in the Eastern expansion vector of the RMBH, which can be characterized as fragmented, disjointed, and disconnected, as well as less extensive territorially.