Uma outra aldeia contradições socioespaciais no Conjunto Habitacional Novo Redentor, bairro Vera Cruz, Camaragibe, Pernambuco

Abstract

Aldeia passes, at first, the idea of a bucolic landscape in the Metropolitan Region of Recife (MRR). It is marked by the presence of private horizontal condominiums of high standard and country houses, among the presumed abundance of preserved nature, where, despite of some areas of low income, what would constitute the reality would be just this scenario of seclusion for the rich ones. The issue addressed in this paper was aimed to show, specifically, that Aldeia goes far beyond this romantic vision. Its social reality is marked by deep inequalities and lack of basic infrastructure and urban services. The socio-spatial problems of this area are as frequent as those experienced in other parts of the MRR. In order to demonstrate such reality, the Novo Redentor Housing Complex, in the neighborhood of Vera Cruz, part of Aldeia which belongs to the municipality of Camaragibe, was selected as the space cutout for this study. This area presents a very poor socioeconomic reality, where it is possible to identify several related deficiencies in the public services of health, transport, security, lighting, schools and cleaning. The research had as general aim to analyze the conditions of urban life in Novo Redentor Housing Complex, as well as the contradictions and obstacles related to the process of population removal from the communities of Sapo Stream, Rio das Pacas and Piin to this complex. Thereunto, a qualitative approach was taken, and methodological procedures were used, such as documentary analysis, field visits for semi-structured interviews, questionnaire, photographic registration and spatial analysis using Google Earth images. The research investigated the implementation of this housing complex as well as the analysis of the conditioning factors of the removal process of 400 families from the three poor communities. This housing complex is part of the work of PAC I, which was managed by Cehab and its construction had a dual purpose: to preserve Beberibe’s river springs, because these communities are located there; and to improve the living conditions of these populations, relocating them to a new space which was supposed to have all the infrastructure and urban services. However, until the present moment, the minimum infrastructure required for the proper functioning of the housing complex is still lacking, and collective urban services are very precarious or even absent. In addition, there is no evidence of environmental recovery in the area of the springs, neither the communities have been completely removed, evidencing a flagrant abandonment of these populations.