The ibge’s concept of subnormal agglomerate and the precariousness of brazilian urban infrastructure

Abstract

This article addresses the limitations of the IBGE’s subnormal agglomerate category to analyze socioeconomic, housing, and demographic inequalities and, specially, inequalities in access to basic urban infrastructure services in Brazilian cities. The text also considers the potential impact that the changes foreseen for the next Demographic Census will have on the analyses and public policies for improving urban living conditions. As a methodology, Discriminant Analysis was used to identify census sectors classified as common by IBGE, which had characteristics similar to those of subnormal sectors, in 2010, in selected Metropolitan Regions. Then, the types of sectors were related to the inadequacy of basic urban infrastructure services and the questions to be removed from the next Census were analyzed, in the light of the variables that discriminated most between subnormal and common sectors, according to the analyses carried out. The results showed that the subnormal and similar sectors identified were not enough to represent the urban areas with the greatest demand for adequate essential public services in 2010. The location of the sectors reflects much more about the precariousness of services than their condition of “subnormality”. The relevance of electricity supply information and also of occupancy condition of households for the analysis about housing and urban infrastructure inequalities are highlighted. These variables are indicated to be removed from the universe questionnaire in the next census. Finally, the continuous valuation of property in the IBGE’s concept of “subnormality” over the availability of adequate essential public services in urban areas is emphasized.