The place of private stakeholders in the making of the Brazilian city: The case of Altiplano neighbourhood in João Pessoa

Abstract

In João Pessoa, the capital of the state of Paraíba (North East of Brazil), the processes of urban production are symptomatic of new power relations: the public authorities are struggling to establish themselves as major players in urban development. In this context, companies in the real estate sector find themselves in a position to negotiate or even change the rules of the game. The analysis of the transformations that took place in the Altiplano Cabo Branco neighbourhood over a decade (2007 - 2017) reflects this growing influence of the privately-owned groups in urban production. A complex regulatory framework, where three levels of competence are intertwined, leaves room for manoeuvre for the municipality of João Pessoa to change land-use planning policies. This flexibility is undoubtedly at the origin of strategies such as the privatisation of a public plaza in favour of a private company. As a result, there was a major break in spatial planning policies between 2005 and 2007, leading to the creation of a "priority densification zone" in the neighbourhood. This led to the verticalization of the built environment, the arrival of very wealthy social classes and a significant increase in land value. The resulting morphological structure reveals the fabrication of a stereotyped space, favouring a certain luxurious inter-self, where the security dimension remains very present.