Sustentabilidade urbana e qualidade de vida: desafios a serem consolidados na Região Metropolitana de Santarém – PA.

Abstract

The notion of urban sustainability appears as a counterpoint to the traditional view of development, and is linked to the implementation of public policies, climatic events, economic forces, as well as the formation of new political and territorial scenarios. One of these scenarios is the creation of metropolitan regions in the Amazon, which takes place under different pretexts, with emphasis on political interest. The metropolitan region of Santarém, created from an articulation on the division of the territory of Pará state is a differentiated region, where socio-spatial diversity is associated both with the metropolitan hegemonic profile and with the riverside Amazonian origin. In this research, we evaluated the level and conditions of urban sustainability of the municipalities of the Metropolitan region of Santarém, Pará and their relationship with environmental problems and with the migration caused by the expansion of soy in the region. The Urban Sustainability Index System (SISU) was used to this analysis, composed by three indices, 10 indicators and 19 variables. Also based on SISU, the environmental problems found in online reports from August 2016 to July 2018 of two local newspapers with wide repercussions in Santarém (G1 - TV Tapajós and O Impacto) were categorized; and to understand the rural-urban relationship, semi-structured interviews were conducted in 21 rural communities, with 27 immigrants in 2011 and 8 in 2019 and a paired analysis between 8 respondents in 2011 and 2019. Advances in the performance of the municipalities in this region were identified, in relation to the Political-Institutional Capacity Index (ICP) and the Municipal Human Development Index (MHDI), with no improvement to the Environmental Quality Index (IQA). In the analysis of 265 reports, 39 environmental problems and 31 possible consequences for the quality of life of the population were identified, which point to a higher proportion of urban environmental problems in Santarém, when compared to the other municipalities in this metropolitan region. In the urban rural context, our preliminary analysis points to a strong migratory flow (rural-urban) for the period from 2000 to 2010 (soybean establishment period), although the pressure for agribusiness was not mentioned as a reason for immigration, but rather, the yearning for the search for a better quality of life and education, in addition to the absence of government institutions in rural areas. In fact, it was noted that the interviewees had better living conditions and an evolution in educational levels, living in the city. We highlight the need for more investments in the quality of services, production chains, territorial planning and environmental management in the studied region, so that integrated policies provide better living conditions for the populations and new levels of sustainability.