Democracia participativa e processo decisório municipal: estudo de caso sobre a participação cidadã no processo de licenciamento urbanístico ambiental de um empreendimento comercial de impacto no entorno do Centro Histórico de Belém (PA)

Abstract

This thesis discusses citizen participation in the municipal decision-making process, in the context of the Democratic State of Law, based on a case study involving the process of urban-environmental licensing of an impact commercial enterprise (supermarket) located around the Historic Center of Belém (PA), in an edge area. It evaluates qualitatively the citizen participation in the municipal decision-making process, in the case studied, through a methodology elaborated by the International Observatory of Participatory Democracy (2007), aiming to explain the results of the practice, in the period 2016 to 2020, in the light of the Constitutional Theory of Participatory Democracy, by Bonavides (2003). The research was based on the following problem: how did the decision-making process occur in the urban environmental licensing process in the case of an impact commercial enterprise (supermarket) located around the Historic Center of Belém (PA), in an edge area? The general objective was to analyze the extent to which the municipal decision-making process in the process of urban-environmental licensing in the case of an impact commercial enterprise (supermarket) located around the Historic Center of Belém (PA), in an edge area, occurred in accordance with the right to citizen participation in the democratic management of the city. The study has an analytical-descriptive approach and relied on the application of documentary research, process research and direct observation. As a result, there was a lack of legitimacy and functionality in participatory practice, since most of the qualitative criteria tested resulted in insufficient and absent concept. The results of citizen participation were not substantive, as they did not influence the municipal decision, presenting divergence with the theoretical framework, constitutional norms, infraconstitutional and international treaties on political citizenship. It is concluded that the municipal decision-making process occurred within the framework of the urban-environmental licensing process, in the period from 2016 to 2020, did not provide the realization of the right to citizen participation in the democratic management of the city of Belém (PA), confirming the research hypothesis.