Strategic restructuring and gentrification in Belo Horizonte: New scenery, old actions

Abstract

The modifying actions preceded by the Government, in conjunction with private capital; in order to consolidate the role of cities in the interurban competition scenario, do not always increase citizens' access to the social functions of the city. Sometimes such actions lead to the intensification of inequality and socio-spatial segregation. The article seeks to evaluate the process of economic-spatial restructuring of Belo Horizonte. Interventions include large public works infrastructure and services, decisively influencing land valuation, the appropriation of space by capital and the expulsion of the vulnerable population. The objective of the research is to identify whether the interventions made by the Government have initiated the gentrification process of Venda Nova. For that, a qualitative research of exploratory character was carried out, using bibliographical research, documentary and survey to highlight the dynamics of space elitist. The results, in different aspects of analysis, show significant alterations in the socioeconomic structure and the built environment of the region, which characterize gentrification. The research, doing an analysis of gentrification, from the database of real estate registries of the Municipality, intends to make an important contribution to the empirical studies on how the phenomenon applies to the Brazilian urban reality.