WHERE THERE IS A HOUSE, IS THERE A CITY?: Socio-spatial Processes and Forms of the PMCMV in Medium-Sized Cities in Northeast Brazil.
Minha Casa, Minha Vida Program; Urbanization; Socio-spatial processes and forms; Crato; Mossoró; Campina Grande.
The outcome of the Brazilian urbanization process has been cities that have grown, to a large extent, in a disorderly manner, displaying a chaotic and, at times, deplorable urban fabric, which has fostered unequal urban processes to the detriment of urban integration. In this context, unequal socio-spatial processes and forms have become characteristic features of Brazilian cities, where access to land, housing, and urban services is structured around profound social disparities. While social housing policies represent an opportunity to mitigate these inequalities, they often end up reinforcing them. The Minha Casa, Minha Vida Program illustrates this contradiction: although it provided access to homeownership for millions of Brazilians, it reproduced a contradictory urban model in which housing is located far from urban centers and lacks adequate infrastructure. In light of this scenario, the research sought to answer the following question: how did the developments under Faixa 1, financed with subsidized resources from the Residential Leasing Fund (FAR) of the PMCMV, in the cities of Crato (Ceará), Mossoró (Rio Grande do Norte), and Campina Grande (Paraíba), reproduce and reinforce unequal socio-spatial processes and forms between 2009 and 2022? Thus, this study is justified as a contribution to the debate on the territorial impacts of spatial processes in cities in Brazil’s Northeast Region. From a methodological standpoint, a multiscalar approach was adopted, articulating analyses at the national, state, and municipal levels, based on bibliographic and documentary review, the collection and processing of secondary data, and cartographic production. The results indicate that, at the national scale, Brazilian urbanization constitutes a historical-spatial process marked by structural inequalities, associated with accelerated industrialization, rural–urban migration, and the consolidation of a hierarchical and selective urban network. At the state scale, recent urbanization in Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, and Paraíba reveals a continuous and homogeneous process, yet one marked by persistent challenges in the provision of infrastructure, public services, and adequate environmental conditions. Among the municipalities analyzed, housing production under the PMCMV proved to be unequal and selective, with strong spatial concentration, peripheral siting, and significant differences in location and construction typologies. Urban integration, when present, proved partial and conditional, demonstrating that the production of housing did not necessarily translate into the production of the city, confirming that where there is a house, there is not always a city.