De baixo para cima: implicações socioespaciais da transferência da feira livre na (re)produção do espaço urbano de Nova Cruz-RN (1991-2010)

The present work is about the reproduction of the urban area of Nova Cruz RN, with the objective of analyzing the social and spatial implications of the relocation of the main street market in the city from 1991 on. Nowadays, the city of Nova Cruz takes over importance in the potiguar social and spatial scenario due to its condition of central city which is practiced for decades in Potiguar Agreste Microregion. Beginning with its formation process connected with traveler‟s hostel which assisted the activity of cattle transportation, further in time by the golden era of cotton production in its territory, it was noticed that its importance in relation with the nearby towns has been happening differently throughout time. From the year 1991 on, the town of Nova Cruz has gone through a territory restructuring of its urban area due to the relocation of the open market from Downtown neighborhood to São Sebastião neighborhood. Such territorial movement resulted in a reformation of the town‟s urban space, promoting in both neighborhoods urban growth and the expansion of commercial activity associated with the migration of the commercial center of the city. The transference of the commercial area has caused these processes through the new uses of the land towards the São Sebastião region, it has also caused a decrease in market value of the downtown area as a result of the breakdown of previous existing business activities, their service contribution and the citizen migration, establishing a space and socioeconomic portrait in the neighborhood. From this context, our analysis seeks to understand the social and spatial impacts occurred in Downtown neighborhood, the way in which the production and reproduction of the urban space in São Sebastião neighborhood and the implications resulted from the actions of the administrative power in restructuring of the urban space of Nova Cruz. In order to do so, a bibliographical research was used to compose our theoretic-conceptual mark, discussing the matter with authors such as Roberto Lobato Corrêa, Ana Fani, Milton Santos, Manuel Castells e Heri Lefvbre, among others, discussing on the subject of urban analysis, the concepts of urban space and the process of reproduction of the urban space. A field research was utilized in our area of study by means of primary data gathering through interviews, questionnaire and photographic register. Secondary data gathering was also obtained by means of bibliographical and documental research related to our study object. By these means, it was sought to contribute to the understanding of the urban space through its production and reproduction based upon the discovery of social and spatial practices

Inferência geográfica para delimitação de corredores ecológicos: um estudo de caso para a Mata Atlântica do município de Tibau do Sul/RN

The Atlantic Forest biome occupies much of the Atlantic coast of Brazil, in addition to portions of Paraguay and Argentina. Due mainly to its biodiversity which falls in the group of global hotspots, i.e., areas that have high priority for conservation. Although currently there are some available devices that assist in their protection in the course of the history of occupation and exploitation of the Brazilian territory, this biome has gone, and is still going through, an intense process of devastation, caused mainly by the pressure from economic activities, culminating in a significant reduction of its area and consequent fragmentation of the landscape, which brings with hosts a series of problems at various scales and aspects. As in most municipalities included in the reach area of the biome, the situation of forest fragmentation in Tibau do Sul / RN is quite critical, reflecting on a truly diverse landscape with broad typology of land uses. Among the alternatives aimed at the conservation of this biome include the creation of protected areas and the creation of ecological corridors, the latter being more efficient by connecting the remaining forests, increasing landscape connectivity, providing significant gains in relation to biodiversity. However, a major problem on implementation of Ecological Corridors projects is related to the selection of areas for this purpose, in this sense Geography can provide important contributions through the integrated study of landscape in the light of the geosystemic approach and the use of Geographical Information System (GIS) in order to permit assessment of reality having as a base the integration of ecological, biological and man-made aspects. Thus, this research aims to indicate potential areas and propose scenarios delimitation of Ecological Corridors in the municipality of Tibau do Sul / RN through Geographic Inference techniques in GIS platform. Therefore, the methodology adopted is based on the Geosystemic approach. From these elements were created 4 models to indicate potential areas for implementation of Ecological Corridors from the environmental perspective (potential erosion), socioeconomic (cover and land prices), legislative (areas protected by environmental legislation) and integrated (combination of environmental factors, socioeconomic and legislative), which in turn served as a basis for proposing scenarios aimed at this purpose. The results showed that all models can be quite useful in indicating potential areas for the establishment of ecological corridors, especially when based on an integrated approach between environmental and anthropogenic. The Corridors delimitation proposes shown may perform duties beyond the establishment of connectivity between fragments, since they also may have usefulness in controlling erosion and protecting fragile environments. Among the models developed, the integrated constituted itself as the best option because it enabled the interconnection of a larger number of fragments from a better use of the potentialities present in the landscape

O centro de Fortaleza como lugar de moradia

The present study has the objective of analyzing how the ways of dwelling influences the uses and the functional and symbolic appropriations of the urban space in Fortaleza city center, through the perspective of the residents and their relation with the living place. Scenarios of development and degradation of its urban space have marked the city center of Fortaleza. The intensification of the commercial and services occupation promoted through the years, paradoxically, the valorization of the land price and the devalorization of the residential use. Thus, the residential occupation was consolidated in a discontinuous way, being concentrated mainly in the external limits of the historical core of the neighborhood. The research is structured over the delimitation of an area and the selection of multifamily residential buildings, built since the 1960s, close to the central core of the neighborhood. The spatial configuration analysis of the selected residential buildings, and their relations with the urban surroundings and the land uses, reveals different aspects related to the urban vitality, producing impacts over the ways of dwelling constituted by the daily life of the residents. The study of the ways of dwelling involves the comprehension that the dwelling is beyond the private residential boundaries and the functional occupation. The conceptual base of this research is developed over the perspective that the dwelling represents a fundamental aspect of the human condition, allowing the person to relate with the space in an essential way (HEIDEGGER, 2012). In this perspective of the dwelling, the space reunites the mental and the cultural, the social and the historical, being marked by simultaneous logics of the conceived, the perceived and the lived space (LEFEVBRE, 2006). The development of this study, over the point of view of the neighborhood residents, is inserted in the perspective of the lived space, related to the concept of place, understood as a qualitative phenomenon, giving essence and identity to the space. The place of dwelling, marked by coexistences, is one of the structural elements of the urban land use, and potential for the rehabilitation of the central areas in big cities. Therefore, the study starts from the hypothesis that the location, the nearby land uses and the spatial configuration of the residential buildings affect the ways of dwelling, in other words the residents dissolve the boundaries of the shelter and experience the urban space, from the dwelling place. The requalification of the dwelling is opposed to the residential space based in functionality, in hierarchy, in self sufficiency, in standardization and in the reproduction of the urban space, materialized in the dense contemporary residential buildings, that are unrelated to the city. The stages of the research involved the spatial configuration analysis of the selected residential buildings and their surrounding, the land use mapping and interviews with the residents. The collected data allowed verifying that the buildings are located in areas presenting heterogeneous land uses, with a great number of residents and users. However, these aspects are not sufficient to promote the vitality of the public spaces in the neighborhood, since the people movement in the streets is controlled by the opening hours of the predominant commercial use in the area. The word of the residents, collected in interviews, indicate that the conservation conditions of the public spaces and the insecurity influences their everyday relations with the place of dwelling, affecting fundamental aspects for the dwelling requalification in the central area of Fortaleza.

O centro de Fortaleza como lugar de moradia

The present study has the objective of analyzing how the ways of dwelling influences the uses and the functional and symbolic appropriations of the urban space in Fortaleza city center, through the perspective of the residents and their relation with the living place. Scenarios of development and degradation of its urban space have marked the city center of Fortaleza. The intensification of the commercial and services occupation promoted through the years, paradoxically, the valorization of the land price and the devalorization of the residential use. Thus, the residential occupation was consolidated in a discontinuous way, being concentrated mainly in the external limits of the historical core of the neighborhood. The research is structured over the delimitation of an area and the selection of multifamily residential buildings, built since the 1960s, close to the central core of the neighborhood. The spatial configuration analysis of the selected residential buildings, and their relations with the urban surroundings and the land uses, reveals different aspects related to the urban vitality, producing impacts over the ways of dwelling constituted by the daily life of the residents. The study of the ways of dwelling involves the comprehension that the dwelling is beyond the private residential boundaries and the functional occupation. The conceptual base of this research is developed over the perspective that the dwelling represents a fundamental aspect of the human condition, allowing the person to relate with the space in an essential way (HEIDEGGER, 2012). In this perspective of the dwelling, the space reunites the mental and the cultural, the social and the historical, being marked by simultaneous logics of the conceived, the perceived and the lived space (LEFEVBRE, 2006). The development of this study, over the point of view of the neighborhood residents, is inserted in the perspective of the lived space, related to the concept of place, understood as a qualitative phenomenon, giving essence and identity to the space. The place of dwelling, marked by coexistences, is one of the structural elements of the urban land use, and potential for the rehabilitation of the central areas in big cities. Therefore, the study starts from the hypothesis that the location, the nearby land uses and the spatial configuration of the residential buildings affect the ways of dwelling, in other words the residents dissolve the boundaries of the shelter and experience the urban space, from the dwelling place. The requalification of the dwelling is opposed to the residential space based in functionality, in hierarchy, in self sufficiency, in standardization and in the reproduction of the urban space, materialized in the dense contemporary residential buildings, that are unrelated to the city. The stages of the research involved the spatial configuration analysis of the selected residential buildings and their surrounding, the land use mapping and interviews with the residents. The collected data allowed verifying that the buildings are located in areas presenting heterogeneous land uses, with a great number of residents and users. However, these aspects are not sufficient to promote the vitality of the public spaces in the neighborhood, since the people movement in the streets is controlled by the opening hours of the predominant commercial use in the area. The word of the residents, collected in interviews, indicate that the conservation conditions of the public spaces and the insecurity influences their everyday relations with the place of dwelling, affecting fundamental aspects for the dwelling requalification in the central area of Fortaleza.

Alteração da qualidade do solo em zona ripária sob diferentes usos: potencial de poluição para um manancial tropical

The demographic growth press environments that are more susceptible to perturbations, like riparian areas, without knowing about the effects of replacing these natural environments by different land uses on soil quality and, consequently, on watershed. The study of soil quality has evolved as an important tool for soil sustainable management of this component of the biosphere that affects aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems functions. Thus, physical and chemical soil proprieties were measured to assess soil quality under different land uses (agricultural, pasture, urban, industrial and natural vegetation,) in the riparian zone of Extremoz Lake, an important human water source, evaluating whether the soil offers potential risk to water pollution. Data were subjected to descriptive statistics and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The results showed negative changes in soil quality such as alkalinization and increase in P, Pb, Mn and Zn contents in most anthropized areas. The sandy texture and low organic matter content in all soils showed the fragility of the soil to erosion and leaching of elements in excess to water bodies, evidencing that this soils has potential to diffuse contaminants. Conservative management of soil is necessary to provide an adequate ecological state in riparian zones of the Extremoz Lake, thus allowing controlling and buffering diffuse sources of pollution to this important water supply source

Conflito de usos da água e ocupação do solo da Bacia Hidrográfica do rio Pitimbu no município de Macaíba, RN

Due to the increasing activities and its disordered occupation, the catchment of the Pitimbu river is reason of concern for the population, since the river empties in the lagoon of the Jiqui where 30% of the water of this lagoon are caught for the supplying the city of Natal, playing an important fuction in the supply of water superficial for the capital of the Rio Grande do Norte. The superior stretch of the hydrography catchment of the Pitimbu river - Macaíba/RN, object of this study, is denoted by the eminently agricultural occupation with the use of the irrigated agriculture in the many properties that compose this stretch. Because of this becomes necessary to analyze the availability of the water resources in the catchment of the Pitimbu river, in the superior stretch, collating with the use and occupation of the existing terrain. The stretch in study was divided in eight points which had been performed tests throughout the water and analyzed the parameters physicist-chemistries and heavy metals that are praised by resolution CONAMA nº 357 e, visits in field with photographic survey for characterization of this verifying the situation where if it finds the river. The stretch presented some divergence in the parameters of pH and iron, however the results denote a characteristic of the region. The great amount of slide barrages throughout the river and the wet street was observed, had also verified near the edges the launching of garbage and, the great amount of aquatic vegetation. With this it is concluded that the water of the river can be used for human supplying, therefore inside presents a quality of drinking waters of the standards demanded for resolution CONAMA nº 357, in this way, the stretch in study could be adopted as an Envoiremental Area Protection (APA), to preserve and to guarantee, at least in this stretch, that its condition remains unchanged and continues to supply of permanent form a water of excellent quality

Qualidade da água de um reservatório e do solo da zona ripária sob diferentes usos na região semiárida do Rio Grande do Norte

Reservoirs are artificial ecosystems intermediate between rivers and lakes widely used in the Brazilian semiarid region as a way to provide water supply due to the said region’s water scarcity. The use of water from these supply sources for multiple uses, along with occupation and utilization of its riparian zone without proper management, directly influences the increased nutrient flow into aquatic environments, there with contributing to the acceleration of eutrophication. The semi-arid region is characterized by peculiar weather conditions, such as severe evaporation, high temperatures with little variation throughout the year and long water residence time, making it susceptible to prolonged drought occurrence, which tends to concentrate the nutrients in reservoirs, which favors the development of eutrophic conditions. Moreover, it is common soil use and occupation by carrying out activities with potential environmental impact on natural resources such as agriculture, livestock farming and lack of sanitation. The aim of this study is both to evaluate the water quality of the Cruzeta Reservoir, located in the semiarid region of Rio Grande do Norte, during a prolonged drought period, and assess the quality of its riparian zone soil under different uses, by monitoring physical-chemical variables. Along the prolonged drought, high levels of turbidity, suspended solids, nutrients and chlorophyll a were verified as present, therefore featuring low water quality. In the riparian zone of Cruzeta Reservoir, the areas under use of agriculture and livestock farming appeared as one of the main diffuse sources of nutrients to the said reservoir, featuring the highest levels of phosphorus and nitrogen in the soil, originated from decomposition of animal excreta and from the use of fertilizers, creating a tendency to increased eutrophication of such water supply source. The indicators of water and soil quality are useful for monitoring and evaluating the conservation status of natural resources, allowing the control and mitigation of the reservoir eutrophication process. This study confirmed the hypothesis that the reduction of water level, resulting from prolonged drought event, aggravates the symptoms of eutrophication; and also that using the soil under severalways modifies the physic chemical properties of the soil, having livestock farming and agriculture as the usages with greatest potential towards yielding P and N to the aquatic environment.