Frictions between the formal and the informal in the surroundings of the Special Zones of Social Interest in the metropolitan region of Recife

Abstract

The designation of slums as Special Zones of Social Interest (ZEIS) was an important milestone in the Right to the City. The first experiments took place in the 1980s, and with the enactment of the City Statute (2001), they spread to Master Plans (PD) throughout Brazil. The special parameters for these Zones promote security of tenure for the poorest population by curbing the interests of agents in the real estate sector. However, the interest of hegemonic groups in these areas has been intensifying. This paper presents a morphological reading of the neighborhoods of the ZEIS in the fourteen municipalities that make up the Metropolitan Region of Recife (RM Recife). These regions have been the target of pressure from the real estate sector, which is corroborated by the government, by establishing Zones with high construction potential around the ZEIS. The methodology involved the spatialization of the zoning of PDs in metropolitan municipalities, classified by maximum utilization coefficient, and of apartment-type homes from the National Registry of Addresses for Statistical Purposes (CNEFE). The resulting maps are an important resource for promoting integrated metropolitan planning and can support assessments of the pressures that the surroundings exert on the territory of ZEIS in the different cities of the Region.