Urban restructuring in Maceió-AL after soil subsidence. The unbalance in the action of space-producing agents

Abstract

Considered an ongoing urban socio-environmental disaster, the case of subsidence of the soil in Maceió-Alagoas-Brazil, is treated as a reference example to analyze the process of urban restructuring after mining activities. Linked to neoliberal policies, the city has its dynamics changed and led by capital, where one of the main agents of restructuring is the same responsible for causing the problem: the company Braskem. Thus, bibliographical research, analysis of official documents and up-to-date news about crime are used to compare and contrast the actions of the space producing agents, highlighting the imbalance between them. After 4 years of identifying the entity responsible for the sinking of the soil and cracks in buildings, and 4 years since the beginning of the removals of about 57 thousand people from 5 neighborhoods of Maceió, the transformations occur unattended, without planning and without State protagonism in the negotiations.

Keywords: urban restructuring, disaster, space-producing agents, neoliberalism.