Urbanization, environmental justice, and social-environmental vulnerability in Brazil

Abstract

This chapter presents four case studies (on the Brazilian metropolitan areas of Curitiba, Baixada Santista, Säo Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro) on the bidirectional interactions of urbanization and global environmental change through the frameworks of urban ecology and environmental justice. Very importantly, we utilize distinct concepts and methodologies for the identification and characterization of environmental risk. According to IPCC (2007), it is difficult to estimate all the impacts of climate change precisely, the intensity and frequency of extreme events, such as storms, heavy rain, heat waves, and vulnerability of populations in metropolitan areas increase significantly. The studies presented in this chapter were developed and have as a main focus the transformations in the landscape due to the urbanization process and the consequent environmental degradation in different regions of Brazil. Most of these studies involve the use of methods of analysis from techniques and geoprocessing tools for the integration of spatial data. Data from the physical and socioeconomic environment were collected, stored, and organized; those data were extracted from institutional sources and satellite images, which enabled the visualization and integration of information. In these case studies, risk is associated with society’s susceptibility to environmental changes, seen not only as a result of a certain event but also as a consequence of a social process related to structural urban issues that are linked to political decisions and measures implemented in the course of history. Questions addressed in the chapter examine different dimensions and complementarities of territorial planning and the environmental changes caused by alterations in the dynamics of the local landscape.