Dinâmicas urbanas: estudo de caso sobre a ocupação de encostas de Coronel Freitas, SC

Abstract

The present study aims to analyze the occupation of slopes in the city of Coronel Freitas, located in the western region of Santa Catarina. Based on the following specific objectives: a) Describe the historical evolution of the western region of Santa Catarina and of Coronel Freitas; b) Investigate concepts and definitions for the socio-spatial development process; c) Understand the relationship between society and urban space; d) Understand the spatiality and urban morphology of Coronel Freitas, having as factors the economic growth and the insertion of the city in the urban network of the west of Santa Catarina. In addition to contributing to research on the urbanization of small towns, all the complexity of the process that we do not find only in large urban centers. Dealing with the urbanization process is not an easy task, there are several factors and agents involved in the same space that act continuously modifying it, especially in this case in which it is a small city inserted in a more complex regional context. Coronel Freitas is located in a geographic specificity of accentuated relief, with an urban site formed on a valley floor, therefore, observing and analyzing how urbanization was formed, as well as the elements that constitute it, is fundamental in understanding the peculiarity of the process of spatial distribution and surface formations. The municipality was emancipated in 1961 and since then began to develop in the central parts and surroundings, exploiting the natural vegetation in an irregular way, without geotechnical supervision, which affects an inadequate morphology and medium/high risk for occupation. Among the main human movements perceived in the use of land in an irregular way, the one carried out by people in situations of vulnerability or of lower purchasing power stands out, which has repercussions in compromising the areas, risk of flooding, landslides, accumulation of water due to unevenness, rupture of bridges of municipal interconnection and other weaknesses that affect the population and require from the Public Administration a more qualified urban planning for the adequacy of the localities.