Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: RAVENA VALCÁCER DE MEDEIROS

BASIC SANITATION IN CAICÓ/RN: AN INDICATOR OF MUTILATE CITIZENSHIP

Basic sanitation. Object systems. Systems of actions. Peripheral sanitary insertion. Citizenship. Caicó.

The object of this study is public policies on basic sanitation in Caicó - RN, given the understanding that these are essential for guaranteeing this right. Considering this premise, the question is how public basic sanitation policies in Caicó, between 2007 and 2022, distributed the systems of sanitation objects and actions throughout the territory and their effects on access to this right - as an aspect of citizenship.  It is based on the hypothesis that the implementation of these policies has reproduced the peripheral insertion of sanitation, especially among the city's working classes - who occupy areas where the systems of sanitary objects and actions are rarefied - to the detriment of the elite, who occupy areas of greater technical density and have their right more assured. From this perspective, the general objective is to understand the implementation of public basic sanitation policies in Caicó, between 2007 and 2022, in terms of the territorial distribution of sanitation systems and their effects on access to this right, as an aspect of citizenship. We are therefore carrying out bibliographical research into this sector in Brazil, urban planning, the production of urban space, the right to basic sanitation, social inequalities caused by state actions and the market, as well as space and territory, systems of objects and systems of actions and social exclusion. As for the local reality, the bibliographical research has been looking at the production of urban space in Caicó, based on the materialization of these state actions and their impact on socio-spatial dynamics. With regard to documentary research, analysis is being carried out on these public policies implemented in the city of Caicó between 2007, when the sector made a formal commitment to more intersectoral actions at national level, and 2022. Finally, field research has been carried out in five cities in the Seridó region with the best and worst sanitation indices in the area, given the interrelationship between this region and Caicó, in terms of sanitation systems. The analysis carried out, considering the national, regional and local scales, shows that there is a scarcity of sewage and rainwater drainage systems at these scales. This reflects the fragmentation of the sector, which has historically prioritized actions aimed at supplying water and serving commercial interests, to the detriment of fulfilling the social functions of the Brazilian state. Furthermore, this sanitation system is also the one with the highest financial return, reinforcing in Brazil the understanding of basic sanitation as a commodity and/or facilitator of commercial activities.  This understanding can even be seen in the New Legal Framework for Basic Sanitation, which contributes to perpetuating the sanitation deficit.