GEOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS ON NATAL/RN AND PARNAMIRIM/RN AS SMART AND HUMAN CITIES
Smart and Human City; Natal; Parnamirim; CHICS Network; Density x rarefaction
The debate about the future of the cities is a topic of studies in public administration, Universities and social movements, since the steady growth of urban problems demands solutions for the public. The initiatives idealized by public managers and the solutions in technology presented by companies have been configured over the years as paths to make cities more fair, healthy, creative and sustainable places. Thereby, information and communication technologies, associated to State and companies’ policies create dynamic effects, turning cities into Smart Cities. A Smart City is the one that, through the incorporation of information and communication, as well as the appropriation of those elements by citizens, offers improvements in the quality of urban life to all of those who enjoy it. In this way, several Brazilian cities have made a public commitment to incorporate smart city practices into their urban policies by 2030, by joining the Brazilian Network of Human, Smart, Creative and Sustainable Cities. The object of this research are the two municipalities in the Metropolitan Region of Natal, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, that have joined this network: Natal and Parnamirim. Its general objective is to analyze the efforts made by both these municipalities to achieve the status of Smart and Human cities, considering their territorial attributes (from the environmental, normative, economic and social dimensions). This research’s operationalization used bibliographic and documentary research; secondary data collected and organized within the scope of the research Smart Cities: territory, technology and planning in the Northeast of Brazil, developed at UFRN; primary data collection; and photographic records, that subsidized the production of graphics, maps and charts. Analyzes’ results show that the municipalities of Natal and Parnamirim have carried out specific initiatives (such as partnerships with companies and Universities and the creation of a normative framework on the subject) to promote the goal of become Smart Cities, but that there is still a long road until Parnamirim and Natal can be recognized as such.