The Urban and Regional Studies Program is characterized by its commitment to multidisciplinarity, with a view to a broader understanding of urban and regional dynamics, and to the contribution to the development and implementation of public policies. The program was born in the Public Policy Department, in the same year that the department and undergraduate program in Public Policy Management were created, based on an institutional effort of academic planning to meet new social demands, which resulted in the formation of team of researcher-professors, and provision of infrastructure for teaching, research and outreach activities in these areas. The interface with reality will always be a differential factor of the activities of the department and of the program, which seeks to articulate academic knowledge and training in research for the teachers/lecturers, to the experience acquired by them in management activities within the executive branch, within the private sector or in non-governmental organizations. The program focuses on the multi-scalar survey of the territory, and the investigation of indicators that enable the monitoring and improvement of the public policies carried out in the Northeast region and in other regions of the country, taking advantage of the diverse origin of its teachers/lecturers. These approaches appear in the program’s two lines of research: "Cities and Urban Dynamics" and "State and Public Policies". There is a potential for producing academic research within the program, on urban, rural and regional realities, as well as for the deepening of sector studies, anchored within a multidisciplinary context. The promotion of the integration of knowledge and the possibility of an approximation to reality recognizing its complexity and totality are our challenges, and the academic production committed to the positive transformation of this reality is our goal.
Program’s Objectives / Profile of the professional to be trained/educated:
In the area of urban and regional studies there are administrators, architects, demographers, economists, geographers, sociologists, among other professionals. In this program, the purpose is to deal with urban and regional dynamics with a concern about the benefits that can derive from governmental and third sector public policies. Thus, there is a concern both with the discussions related to the city and the regional context, its problems and varied scales, and with the processes of formation and implementation of public policies. The program focuses on the training/education of professionals who work in academia, in particular in research and teaching/lecturing, as well as in public and third sector institutions, in research, formulation and implementation of projects. In the market, these professionals can also work in consulting and planning companies. The program also seeks to foster work in interdisciplinary teams in urban and regional planning.
AREA OF CONCENTRATION:
Urban and regional dynamics and public policies
The urban and regional context. The economic, social and environmental dynamics. The dynamics of work and employment. The precariousness of work in the countryside and in the city. The unequal urban and rural development. The city in the regional context. Cities in network and network of cities. The city and the metropolis. The metropolitan areas. Contemporary development and social inequalities. Plundering and urban marginalization. Politics and public policy. Democracy and representation. Citizenship and participation. Government and governance. Management and urban and regional public policies. Social and political players and governance. State planning. The construction and implementation of public policies and decision-making processes.
The Lines of Research
Line I - Cities and Urban Dynamics
Analysis of the social, political and economic aspects related to the production of the space of the city and of the metropolitan areas. Urban networks and global cities. The relationship quality of life and urban development. Social exclusion and spatial segregation. Social and regional inequalities and urban problems. The (il)legal, (ir)regular and (in)formal city. The metropolis as the center of economic and political power. Globalization, culture and urban entrepreneurship. The strategic planning of cities. The city-region and the polycentric city.
Line II - State and Public Policies
State, institutions and decision-making processes. Economic, social and territorial public policies. The labor market: between the formal and the informal. The forms of planning, management and institutional organization. The democratization of state action. Governance, citizenship and participation. Social players and public management. Sectoral public policies. Public policy funding. The role of national and international development agencies. Decentralization, intergovernmental relations and public policies. Promotion of national, regional and local development.
The Faculty
Permanent:
Alexsandro Ferreira Cardoso da Silva - DPP
Ana Cláudia Duarte Cardoso – DPP
Fernando Bastos Costa – DPP
Flávio Henrique Miranda de Araújo Freire – DEST
Joana Teresa Vaz de Moura – DPP
Lindijane de Souza Bento Almeida – DPP
Márcio Moraes Valença – DPP
Maria do Livramento Miranda Clementino – DPP
Robério Paulino Rodrigues- DPP
Sandra Cristina Gomes – DPP
Soraia Maria do Socorro Carlos Vidal – DPP
Wagner de Souza Leite Molina – DPP
Collaborators:
Alan Daniel Freire de Lacerda – DPP
Angela Lucia de Araujo Ferreira – DAU
Maria Dulce Picanço Bentes Sobrinha – DAU
Program Scheme:
In the first semester, a general compulsory subject ("Knowledge and interdisciplinarity" - 4 credits) will be offered. In the second, the student can choose one of two compulsory subjects ("Approaches about cities and urban dynamics" - 3 credits; or "Concepts of State and public policies" - 3 credits), according to the line of research. There is also a list of 14 electives, from which the student will be able to choose, taking another 12 credits. The student may also pursue elective courses in other graduate programs provided that this occurs during his/her enrollment period. The student's qualification generates no credit, but it is a compulsory activity, which must be done at the end of the first year or up to 3 months before submitting the dissertation for defense. The dissertation is mandatory. The Teaching Internship, if it is conducted, is worth 3 credits and 45 hours/class and can be counted as as Elective.
Total of credit: 19
Compulsory Courses: 7
Elective Courses (including Teaching Internship): 12
Qualification: Compulsory activity
Dissertation/Thesis: Compulsory activity
COMPULSORY COURSES
General Compulsory:
Production of Knowledge and Research Methodology (60 hours/class - 4 credits)
Production of scientific knowledge. Epistemology and methodology of the human sciences. Models of analysis and explanation. Limits of the validity of the investigation procedures and of the scientific knowledge tools. Quantitative analysis approaches and techniques. Qualitative research analysis approaches and techniques. Designing the research project: defining the scope and the research objectives; problem, questions and research hypotheses; definition of test procedures and analysis of results.
Compulsory of Line 1:
Approaches on cities and urban dynamics (45 hours/class - 3 credits)
Main theoretical approaches on the city. The Chicago School, the central place theory, the Marxist approaches. The attempt to construct a "general urban theory". The Right to the City. City and citizenship. City and market. The contemporary urban agenda. The production of space. The built space. The agents that produce space. Private property and the income of the land. Real estate dynamics and market. The agents of the real estate market. The real estate developers. The State and the promotion of the city. Urban marketing. Urban public policies. Urban planning legislation. The social function of the city. Infrastructure and urban services. The spatial segregation in the uneven city. Urban violence and defensive architecture. The big urban projects. Urban planning as a show. Contemporary city, culture and globalization.
Compulsory of Line 2:
Concepts of State and public policies (45 hours/class - 3 credits)
The study of public policies as an interdisciplinary field. Typologies and concepts for the analysis of public policies. Theoretical perspectives on State and policy formation. The contemporary state and its transformations: new paradigms of public policy. The relations between the State and civil society. Governance, citizenship and participation. Public policies, social welfare and development. The process of elaborating public policies: the emergence of public problems and their entry into the public agenda. Formulating alternatives. Decision making. The implementation and evaluation of public policies.
ELECTIVES:
1
Democracy, local power and participation (45 hours/class - 3 credits)
Theories of democracy: pluralism, deliberative democracy, participatory democracy, associative democracy. Management, governance and local governance. Federalism, decentralization, social policies, innovative management. Participation in Brazil: institutional arrangements and social players. Deliberative forums: public policy management councils, participatory budgets and master plans.
2
Globalization, work and society in transformation (45 hours/class - 3 credits)
The crisis of capitalism and of "Fordist" society. Flexible accumulation and productive restructuring. Capital financialization, globalization and the question of competitiveness. Labor market disruption, trade union crisis and social exclusion. The new international division of labor and patterns of local insertion into the global context. Policies for the generation of jobs and income.
3
Cities, strategy and projects (45 hours/class - 3 credits)
Current strategic planning practices and interrelated aspects. The city of the project and/or city project. Ideal city, real city, intentional city. Contemporary urban practices and metamorphoses of the city. Urban planning, urban environment, urban sociability and identity. Contemporary city, conflicts, different social agents, appropriation and access to the city.
4
Political Institutions and Public Policies in Brazil (45 hours/class - 3 credits)
Political institutions as an object of study: the Brazilian case. State, intermediation of interests and public policies in Brazil. Electoral system, party system. Elections and geography of the vote. System of government and Executive-Legislative relations. Bureaucracy and public administration. Electoral cycle, institutions and public policies. The subnational institutions. Federalism and intergovernmental relations. Institutions, governmental processes and public policies at the state and local levels.
5
Social inequalities, social exclusion and socio-spatial segregation (45 hours/class - 3 credits)
The role of social exclusion and socio-spatial segregation phenomena in the reproduction of inequalities and poverty in Brazilian cities and metropolises. Socio-spatial dimension of exclusion-integration. Modes of inclusion and integration. Processes of social organization of space in Brazil. Social differentiation, social segmentation and social segregation. Segregation patterns. The challenges of socio-spatial inequalities: segregation (residential) and exclusion. Territories of poverty.
6
Housing in international comparative perspective (45 hours/class - 3 credits)
Housing Issues. Homeownership and rental homes. The housing-commodity. The origin of the housing problem in Brazil. Proletarian housing. The working-class villages. Slums and villages. The peripheries. Housing and real estate capital. The Institutes of Retirement and Pensions/IAPs . The Foundation of the Popular House. The National Housing Bank/BNH. The BNH and the lost decade. From the BNH to the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government. The Lula government and the Ministry of Cities. The problem and the Brazilian housing deficit. The national housing plans. The housing programs. Housing policies around the world.
7
Public policies and regional development (45 hours/class - 3 credits)
The Institutions and the State/Society relationships in the design, formulation and implementation of public policies. Regional development in the scope of the scheduling processes until the implementation of public policies, with emphasis on the Northeast region. Public policies and main mediators in the local space. Policies related to income transfer, socioeconomic and environmental promotion, for the urban and rural environment. Institutional arrangements and institutional environment in the evaluation of public policies for the rural universe.
8
Socioeconomics of the environment and environmental policy (45 hours/class - 3 credits)
Principles of socioeconomics of development and its impacts on the environment. Development agendas and the treatment of the environmental issue in Brazil. Regulatory frameworks for the environment in Brazil. The socio-environmental issue seen as an object of interdisciplinary study and as a social problem. Urban and rural ecosystemic imbalances. Census and critical analysis of related cases of the application of the ecodevelopment approach in Brazil and in the Northeast, emphasizing the post-ECO92 period.
9
Multifunctionality and new ruralities (45 hours/class - 3 credits)
The rural space in view of a moving society. Agricultural and non-agricultural occupations. Pluriactivity with reproduction strategy of rural families. New perceptions of rural in the countryside-city relationship. New social players and their implications for rural development. Agroecology as a response to socio-environmental problems arising from modernization.
10
Analysis of quantitative data in human sciences (45 hours/class - 3 credits)
The logic of quantitative inference; explanation, generalization and causal analysis in the social sciences; quantitative research and explanation. Steps of the statistical method for collecting primary quantitative data. Use and manipulation of databases in statistics. Types of variables. Tabular representation. Graphic representation. Descriptive statistics. Notions of statistical inference and sampling. Contingency tables. Correlation analysis. Regression analysis.
11
Techniques of analysis and qualitative research (45 hours/class - 3 credits)
The nature of qualitative research: basic concepts about qualitative methods. Qualitative approaches: case studies as a method. Case study types: simple and multiple. Comparative method in the social sciences. Types of comparative study. Qualitative research techniques: interview, participant observation, content analysis, oral history.
12
Special Topics I (30 hours/class - 2 credits)
Contents and bibliography to be defined by the lecturer.
13
Special Topics II (15 hours/class - 1 credit)
Contents and bibliography to be defined by the lecturer.
14
Special Topics III (45 hours/class - 3 credits)
Contents and bibliography to be defined by the lecturer.
Physical structure
Laboratory 1 - OBSERVATORY OF THE METROPOLISES-NÚCLEO NATAL
Laboratory 2 - ADVANCED CENTER FOR PUBLIC POLICY (operating in the state of implementation)
Laboratory 3 - LABORATORY OF PERMANENT OBSERVATION OF THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE RURAL WORLD OF THE NORTHEAST (UFRN CORE)
Laboratory 4 – LABPLAN (in construction)
SPECIALIZED SECTORIAL LIBRARY (BSE) of the Humanities, Letters and Arts Center (CCHLA), coordinated by the Zila Mamede Central Library - BCZM-UFRN
Contact information
Phone (84) 3215-3871
E-mail: ppeur@cchla.ufrn.br