Gentrificação e resistência popular nas feiras e portos públicos da Estrada Nova em Belém (PA)

Abstract

This article considers the popular resistance on the street markets and public harbors in the Estrada Nova of Belém. It interprets the occupation of the southern waterfront of Belém, analyzed in terms of the social production of urban space. The popular resistance strives to keep the public harbors, Porto da Palha and Porto do Açai, as places of multiple economic and cultural exchanges, against the municipality’s intention of gentrifying the waterfront and removing its current users through the project called Portal da Amazônia. The resistance of small traders, workers, and residents opposes the metaphor ‘windows on the river,’ which represents a one-sided exclusive approach, with another metaphor, that of ‘gateways to the river,’ which has to do with the necessity of coming and going of riverine people, who demand their right to the city. The movement of people and goods at the harbors and the surroundings creates a setting of popular economy and life in Belém. This movement gives identity to the neighborhoods of Jurunas, Condor, and Guamá and agrees with the urbanistic requirements of Jane Jacobs and Marshall Berman, who value everyday life in the streets. In spite of grassroots resistance, the project goes ahead in an obscure way, without any consideration for dialogue or transparency.