The dialectic of nature in the production of space at Praia do Saco, south coast of Alagoas/Brazil

Abstract

This article aimed to investigate the social and environmental impacts caused by the increase of real estate projects and to analyze the relationship between society and nature in the Praia do Saco space in the city of Marechal Deodoro - Alagoas/Brazil. In the space on the coastal area of Alagoas is noted an increase of real estate ventures in protected areas, where the access to the beach becomes private, the communities are displaced, and the nature is destroyed and replaced by allotments and gated communities. In this sense, we developed a theoretical discussion about the production of space and the dialectic of nature. It was also necessary to make a specific analysis of produced space in Praia do Saco, identifying the vectors of overflowing from the capital Maceió to the South Coast of Alagoas, socio-spatial actions, agents and transformations, as well as irregularities and socio-environmental impacts in order to investigate critically the contemporary dynamics of this space. Field visits were made for observation and analysis of the area in question, to take photographs and conduct interviews. Thus, it was found that this process of real estate increase in the southern coast of the Metropolitan Region of Maceió has reproduced the accumulation by dispossession, because real estate developers appropriate areas, generating, directly or indirectly, a displacement of traditional communities. Besides these actions are causing a strong social and environmental impact in the area by the irregular exploitation of the soil.

Keywords:
Protected Areas; Real estate developments; Nature; Capitalism; Desterritorialization

Resumo

Este artigo tem por objetivo investigar os impactos socioambientais ocasionados com a expansão de empreendimentos imobiliários e analisar a relação sociedade e natureza no processo de produção do espaço da Praia do Saco no Município de Marechal Deodoro - AL. No processo de produção do espaço do litoral de Alagoas nota-se a expansão de empreendimentos imobiliários em áreas de conservação ambiental associados à privatização de acessos a praia, à desterritorialização de comunidades, e à destruição e apropriação da natureza por loteamentos e condomínios. Nesse sentido, fez-se necessário tecer uma discussão teórica sobre a produção do espaço e a dialética da natureza, como também a elaboração de uma análise específica da produção do espaço na Praia do Saco, identificando os vetores de transbordamento da capital Maceió para o Litoral Sul de Alagoas, as ações, os agentes e as transformações socioespaciais, além das irregularidades e os impactos socioambientais a fim de uma investigação crítica sobre a dinâmica contemporânea desse espaço. Como parte dos procedimentos metodológicos foram realizadas visitas a campo para observação, análise da área em questão, confecção de fotografias e realização de entrevistas. Deste modo, constatou-se que este processo de expansão imobiliária no litoral sul da Região Metropolitana de Maceió tem reproduzido o processo de acumulação por despossessão, pois, áreas são apropriadas pelos empreendedores imobiliários, o que gera a expulsão direta ou indireta das comunidades tradicionais, além de ocasionar um forte impacto socioambiental na área pela exploração irregular do solo.

Palavras-chave:
Unidades de Conservação; Empreendimentos Imobiliários; Natureza; Capitalismo; Desterritorialização

INTRODUCTION

Building real estate projects in protected areas, ecological reserves or in areas with environmental "amenities" such as beaches, forests, rivers, lagoons, despite the normative restrictions, is recurrent in Brazil. In this process along the coast of the State of Alagoas where the space is transformed, it is noteworthy the rise of these enterprises in protected areas where the access to the beach becomes private, the communities are displaced, and the nature is destroyed and replaced by allotments and gated communities. Based on this premise, this article aimed to investigate the social and environmental impacts caused by the increase of real estate projects and to analyze the relationship between society and nature in the Praia do Saco, in the city of Marechal Deodoro, Alagoas.

This municipality is part of the metropolitan region of Maceió and is inserted in the Estuarine Lagoon Mundaú-Manguaba Complex - CELMM, containing parts of its territory circumscribed in the protected Area of Santa Rita and the Ecological Reserve of Saco da Pedra, both state-owned. The fact that Praia do Saco is inserted in a protected area and that it is a locus of real estate expansion calls attention for analysis. In this sense, we sought to understand the licensing processes to install and regularize these enterprises, the socio-environmental impacts generated, and the relationship of nature and its idealization in relation to how these properties are evaluated.

Specifically in Praia do Saco there is a contradiction regarding the appropriation of nature. It is a protected area by the State, that should be conserved, and the real estate use these qualities that adds value to the properties, associating the discourse of quality of life, clean air, leisure and sustainability. However, the increase of these real estate ventures in coastal generate negative impacts on this same nature that add value to these gate communities, which is determinant to evaluate the next properties.

These contradictions are strategic to reproduce and accumulate capital from the development of real estate projects, which become central in the production of urban space, creating segregated areas through spoliation. This process produce a displacement of communities that historically occupy these areas, expands real estate speculation, and causes environmental problems, such as impairment of protected areas, water shortage and sanitation.

There, we conducted a bibliographic review based on the concepts of nature and spaceas the main analytical categories. Field visits were carried out to observe and analyze the researched to Photograph were taken and open interviews were conducted with representatives of the Massagueira residents' association and with the real estate developers of the region. The interview with representatives of the residents' association was in the format of a group and open dialogue, which had as a central issue the impacts of the expansion of the allotments at Praia do Saco and how this has interfered with their daily activities.

As for the real estate developers, six developers were interviewed about the developments, such as the development proposal, the price of the square meter, the target audience, the number of marketable products and questions regarding environmental licensing. Visits were made to management bodies such as the Environmental Institute of the State of Alagoas, Secretariat of Environment and Water Resources of Alagoas, Secretariat of Fisheries, Agriculture and Environment of the municipality of Marechal Deodoro, to request documents such as Management Plan, Urban Development Master Plan, Environmental Impact Studies and Enterprise Processes.

THE DIALECTICS OF NATURE IN THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE

“Space” production is the transformation of nature from human work. As Carlos (1999) states, space is the condition, means and product of social relations. From the moment that man becomes the producer of space, he does not perceive himself as nature, thus establishing a contradictory, unequal and dichotomous relationship between society and nature. At the same time that the elements of nature are the resources for man's actions as a social being, they are obstacles for expanding human work, especially when it comes to the urban space expansion, which is increasingly transformed and artificialized.

Lefebvre (2004) discusses the relationship between society and nature and how this latter is perceived by urban society. It is important to emphasize that nature, due to the transformation of space by man in the capitalist society, becomes a fetish. It is not a concrete nature, but an idealized nature based almost only on the presence of green and water as scenic elements that embellish spaces and refer to the idea of quality of life adding value to the goods. In this sense, Lefebvre states that:

Theoretically, nature distances itself, but the signs of nature and nature multiply replacing and supplanting "real nature. Such signs are mass produced and sold. A tree, a flower, a branch, a perfume,a word, become signs of absence: illusory and fictitious presence. At the same time, ideological naturalization obsesses. In advertising, that of food or textile products, such as housing or holidays, the reference to nature is constant. All the "floating signifiers" that rhetoric uses cling to their representation to find a meaning and content (illusory). What no longer has meaning seeks to find a meaning through the mediation of the "nature" fetish (LEFEBVRE, 2004, p.36).

Elements of nature are increasingly used as signs that add value to real estate goods when the space is produced. This is a contradictory relationship. It must be clear that this process does not end in itself, because in a capitalist society, to produce the space is directly related to accumulating capital. Alfred Schimdt, when analyzing the concept of nature in Marx, states that

Nature is a social category, that is, what in a certain stage of social development is valid as nature, the way in which the relationship between this nature and man occurs and the way in which the adjustment between this and that occurs and, therefore, what nature has to mean with regard to its form and content, its scope and objectivity, is always socially conditioned (SCHIMDT, 1977, p. 78).

The incessant need to produce and reproduce the space is an inherent condition to create continuous forms of extracting surplus value. Harvey (2001, p. 52) states that "Geographic expansion and geographic concentration are both considered products of the same effort to create new opportunities to accumulate capital. ”However, the production of space for this purpose is imbued with various strategies to add value to it and ensure greater profits, most often with dystopian discourses, which are contradictory in their essences. For example, the sale of allotments and gated communities has names notions of a harmonic nature or environmental sustainability as a central part of their propaganda, but their very conception is already a predatory action of the environment in which it will be installed.

The plots of space are made up of natural and artificial arrangements, the product of a historical process of transformation both by the action of man and the dynamics of nature.

These plots materialize as singular spaces, with their particularities, but inserted in a productive logic. This logic is not necessarily local, and can be influenced by a distant order, as stated by Lefebvre, configuring "rare" and selective spaces. In this sense, Lencioni (2016, p. 30) states that "The analysis of the site and the position relative to a given parcel of space helps us, complementarily, to understand the real estate income, and in the limit, the quality of the rarity that some parcels of space enjoy".

When it comes to valuing spaces for real estate purposes using the discourse of nature, a symbiotic relationship is printed between the discourses of real estate promoters and the wishes of buyers, which align with a sustainability tune. However, owners aim at profit, while buyers aim at distinction and "selectivity", paying more for it. This symbiotic relationship is recurrent in space produced by hegemonic agents, such as real estate promoters, landowners and the State. These hegemonic agents segregate the counter-hegemonic agents from choices in the process of production of space. The counter-hegemonic agents are the economic minorities that struggle to produce space and resist hegemonic actions that expand to accumulate, displacing the other groups that are not attuned to this process of spoliation.

The hierarchical class society, in which the desires and fetishes of a few (the capitalists) overlap with the basic needs of many (the workers), dictates how the space is produced, especially in a peripheral country like Brazil. In this context, although nature supplies the resources to attend these basic needs, it becomes restricted to the desires of those who appropriate it as an idealized fetish.

THE PRODUCTION OF THE MASSAGUEIRA SPACE

The region of Massagueira, where Praia do Saco is located, is a district in the municipality of Marechal Deodoro, in the State of Alagoas. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Maceió and its population was estimated at 52,260 inhabitants in 2017. The municipality has 361.85 km², with a demographic density of 138,62 inhab/km². The Municipal Human Development Index is 0.642, and the Gross Domestic Product per capita is R$ 29.071,13, occupying the second position in Alagoas, (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística) - IBGE (2010).

Marechal Deodoro is part of the CELMM, and contains in its territory areas inserted in two protected area of Santa Rita - APASR and Ecological Reserve of Saco da Pedra - RESEC. In the municipality is also present the largest lake island of Brazil (Santa Rita Island), the Praia do Francês beach, Praia do Saco and the beach of the Community of Barra Nova.

According to the Urban Development Master Plan - PDDU of Marechal Deodoro Marechal Deodoro (2006), the locality of Massagueira is inserted in the Macrozone 3 - Santa Rita, which includes the Canal areas, and in the special area Macrozone 6 - Coastal, which includes the beach strip and 24 meters of Marechal Deodoro's Territorial Sea.

To understand how this space is produced today, it is important to understand how the area was occupied. The name Massagueira means, in the indigenous language, "what was flooded" and, in the beginning of occupation of this area there was a mill named Massagueira that gave name to the locality, Heleno (2009). The historical shape of this community is no different from other parts of Brazil. On the one hand, there was nature, and on the other, the first inhabitants, who were decimated over time and exploited under the capital logic, that consolidated large estates. According to Heleno (2009, p. 61) "Those who lived in the lands of Massagueira in the early days were remarkable fishermen and exquisite canoeing, qualities inherited by today's native inhabitants".

Until the 1960s, Massagueira was inhabited by few families, some with simple houses, typical of farmers and fishermen who took their livelihood from the lagoon and few houses used as summer residences. Its access was done by boat through the lagoon and also by roads in the municipality of Marechal Deodoro. The access to Massagueira was not so easy, which made this area relatively far from the state capital, Heleno (2009).

The 1970s were a milestone for the beginning of the growth of the urban fabric of Maceió towards the southern coast of the State of Alagoas. The building of Salgema factory in 1976 in Maceió (currently named Braskem), the Highway AL101 South, and the viaducts of Detran, Francês and Barra de São Miguel in 1979, were important vectors for increasing urbanization in the region. This urbanization process was realized with the emergence of several real estate ventures (summer houses, gated communities and allotments) in 1980, Alagoas (2015).

This process accelerated the tourism chain and also the population increase in Marechal Deodoro municipality. In 1984 Santa Rita APA (Environmental Protection Area) was established, comprising areas of Coqueiro Seco, Maceió and Marechal Deodoro, and in 1985 the Saco da Pedra Ecological Reserve in Marechal Deodoro was created, Alagoas (2015).

Creating the Santa Rita APA was not enough to prevent the enlargement of industries and road infrastructure in the region. In 1986 was created the Chloro Chemical Pole in the trays of Marechal Deodoro and the Salgema industry was expanded (VIEIRA, 1997). In 2010, the Ministry of Tourism made resources available for the duplication about 20 km of the Highway AL 101 Sul, which made it possible to expand the connection between Maceió and Marechal Deodoro (Associação dos Municípios de Alagoas- AMA, 2009 apud MACHADO, 2016).

When the Highway AL 101 South was constructed in the 1980s, the urban population of Marechal Deodoro more than doubled, while rural dwellers diminished. In 1980, the total population was 22,696 inhabitants, the urban inhabitants was 9,370 and the rural inhabitants was 13,325, however, in 2010, the total population of the municipality was 45,977, the urban inhabitants was 43,392 urban and the rural inhabitants was 2,585. The estimative for the total population of the municipality in 2019 population was 51,901 inhabitants (IBGE, 2010).

The road infrastructure, the Highway AL 101 South, and the bridges connecting Maceió to the south coast of Alagoas, was determinant for the urban fabric increase, because that crated conditions to the tourism development. Bars and restaurants appeared in Massagueira, and later the real estate started to build allotments, gated communities and also high standard houses, mainly in Praia do Saco.

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PRAIA DO SACO REGION AND THE CONTRADICTORY RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURE

Praia do Saco has been affected by the urban expansion that overflows the capital and materializes mainly the development of allotments and high-standard gated communities. The nature and privileged location have added value to the properties and are greatly exploited by the marketing of the enterprises. The aesthetics of nature is used in advertisements, it is incorporated in the speeches of real estate agents. Real estate agents associate nature with quality of life as an attractive for sale their enterprises, naming the gated communities with terms that refer to aspects of nature such as Parque Brumas do Francês (Frances Mists Park), Brisas Mares do Sul (South Seas Breezes), Enseada da Lagoa (Lagoon Cove), and Ilha da Lagoa (Lagoon Island). As Haug states, "the function that leads to the aesthetic abstraction of merchandise is the function and accomplishment that obtains, in the aesthetic promise of value of use, its motivating means of purchase, Haug (1996, p. 74).

A concern in this research about Massagueira region is that since the 1990s gated communities and allotments have been built mainly in the environmental protection area of Santa Rita. This is a problem because the environmental protection area of Santa Rita is a place of environmental instability, with a high degree of vulnerability, an area of lagoon estuary with a great variation of tides, restinga vegetation, presence of mangroves and Atlantic Forest, and a specific coastal fauna, being a place where turtles spawn. The increase of these gated communities and allotments generate a large impact on nature.

The real estate seek to appropriate the scenic beauty, adequate infrastructure and good location for the implementation of enterprises aimed at the public of high economic standards.

The main enterprises were built in Saco beach, such as the residential Ilha da Lagoa with sales started in 2012 and the residential Granville in 2008, however there are still units for sale. Others are still being built at the Massagueira de Baixo, such as Brisas Mares do Sul, Flex Residence, at the margins of the AL 101 Sul Highway, the Loteamento Enseada da Lagoa, in front of the Laguna Manguaba canal, and the Loteamento Parque Brumas do Francês, at Praia do Saco, the latter will be detailed throughout this article.

The development of these allotments have caused several socio-environmental problems in the area, besides producing, under mechanistic logic, segregated spaces that, for the most part, do not meet the land and environmental regulations. However, in 2015 the public power and the city council legitimized the occupation of this space, conferring licenses and even "green certificates" that are displayed in front of the enterprises, as is the case of the Brisas Mares do Sul Allotment (Figure 1).

Figure 1
Green Certificate conferred to the Brisas Mares do Sul Allotment.

The most emblematic case involving contradiction between environmental regulations and environmental licenses is the Parque Brumas do Francês Allotment, in Praia do Saco It is being built by Nova Itália Construções LTDA ME, Building Company, and started to be sold from 2019, with another name, "Saco da Pedra Beach Residence". The plot of land has 76.17 ha and had its license number 015/97 granted by the Environmental Institute of Alagoas- IMA for an indefinite time in 1997.

Specifically, the Parque Brumas do Francês Allotment is located in a sandy coastal plain, in Alagoas, northeast Brazil, where the CELMM is located, which is a mosaic of terrestrial and aquatic environments, located in the central coast of the State of Alagoas. The allotment is being built in the Compensatory Environmental Recovery Zone - ZRAC and 223 meters close to the Saco da Pedra Ecological Reserve - RESEC, both state protected areas. According to the Environmental Preservation Area Management Plan, ZRAC

They represent areas where the human presence has considerably or definitely modified the site through changes in land use, transforming or compromising the existing natural processes on the site. They basically consist of irregular constructions in APPs, subnormal agglomerations, constructions in the non edificandi strip, marine land and occupations considered incompatible verified in Protected Zones. Indiscriminate use by agriculture and livestock in the areas described above also characterizes these areas of incongruence (ALAGOAS, 2015, p. 245).

The Environment Institute of Alagoas - IMA, describes which uses are compatible and permitted, not compatible and not permitted in that area. One topic can be highlighted is that "Any anthropic interference that hinders or prevents the regeneration of the environment, except in situations that may regularize the activity, provided for in this document and in accordance with IMA's understanding" Alagoas (2017). Despite the determinations of the environment institute, the ventures continue to be licensed in protected areas.

Table 1
Uses compatible and permitted or not in the ZRAC

Compatible and Permitted Uses	1. Reforestation; 2. Regularization of the activity or undertaking, if defined by IMA and the City Hall through a term of commitment with the owner, presentation of an environmental study, recovery and environmental compensation; 3. Activities aimed at environmental education; 4. Use for recovery by environmental liabilities in the APA (Environmental Protection Area).
Not Compatible and Not Permitted Uses	Any human interference that hinders or prevents the regeneration of the environment, except in situations that may regularize the activity, as provided for in this document and in accordance with IMA's understanding.

• Source: ALAGOAS, 2015. Table prepared by the authors, 2018.

The issue is that this is an area protected by environmental laws, such a permit to constructs hould not have been granted, nor should the allotment have been regularized. The Federal Public Ministry granted an injunction in 2011 to suspend the allotment development, as can be seen in the news of the first edition of March 27, 2012, but the work continues to this day, because in subsequent proceedings it was released.

In December last year, at the request of the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), the courts granted an injunction to suspend the work on the Parque Brumas do Francês (Turtles Reserve) subdivision and to stop any administrative procedures related to this permit by the Environmental Institute (IMA). According to IBAMA's report, numerous infractions and growing illicit environmental impacts that affected beaches and marine lands, such as the embankment of mangroves and marginal strips of natural waterways were committed by the company Nova Itália Construções Ltda. There was the suppression of 5.7 hectares of native vegetation, in an area of pioneer formation, of restinga, also inserted in the Atlantic Forest Biome, and the shallow cutting of existing specimens, besides the use of fire, was also performed. The Public Civil Action filed by the MPF points out that the undertaking should never have been licensed, since it is located in Permanent Preservation Areas (restinga and mangroves, as well as 300 meters from the high tide) and, if this were not enough, these APPs are still inserted in two protected areas (APA of Santa Rita and RESEC of Saco da Pedra) (OLIVEIRA; MARTINS, 2012, [Y/N]).

As the enterprise is still preparing the allotment structure, it has not yet obtained the operating license. However, it has already started selling lots. This allotment is currently surrounded by metal enclosures that was suggested by competent agency, but the earthmoving works in its interior continue to be carried out. This earthmoving works is released licensed by IMA, which approved the study of fauna and flora presented by the owner of the plot of land, alleging that the area had already lost its specific restinga characteristic and did not fit, in this way, as a Permanent Protection Area - APP according to the definition of the new Forestry Code BRASIL. This enterprise is suppressing local plant species and mangrove embankment (Figure 2).

The environmental impacts are incompatible with the ZRAC determinations. The images below show the evolution of land use and occupation and the vegetation suppression of sandbank that occurred between 2002 and 2017 in the area occupied by Parque Brumas do Francês. It should be noted here that it was not possible to analyze this area during the permit period (1997), since the EIA-RIMA (Environmental Impact Study-Environmental Impact Report) was lost at the competent agency. It is likely that with the completion and sale of this allotment and other areas in the process of structuring, the space will be completely occupied, also causing the privatization of the public areas of the allotment and the access to the beach.

Figure 2
A; B; C; D; E; F - Succession of aerial images showing the occupation process of Brumas do Francês allotment

According to Federal law 6.776/79, art. 22 closed subdivisions are prohibited “Since the registration date of the subdivision, the streets and squares, open spaces and areas for public buildings and other urban equipment, included in the project and in the descriptive memorial, are included in the domain of the Municipality”, Brazil (1979). However, real estate entrepreneurs ignore the legislation and surround the lots by turning them into gated communities. Some examples of this in Praia do Saco are the gated communities "Ilha da Lagoa Residential" and "Granville Residential", originally were allotments and later were surrounded by walls, railings and guardhouses, and are now called by residential developers (figure 3).

Making the access to the beach private is also happening in Praia do Saco. There are high-standard houses located by the sea, without any street between them, disrespecting the necessary distance from the line of the beach established by the legislation. To construct these houses on the coast line restrict the access of the residents of the surrounding community, because the accesses are closed and have the presence of surveillance 24 hours. Some of the owners of these houses even caused major environmental problems, as they throw debris from retaining walls on the beach. These and were fined by IMA in 2017 (www.globo.com, 2017).

Figure 3
A and B - Ilha da Lagoa Residential in Praia do Saco, as an allotment in 2012 (A), as a gated communitie in 2018 (B)

The beach area is considered to be in the public domain and has state and federal laws to be considered as the Alagoas State Law n.7661/88 and Federal Decree 5300/04 (which creates and institutes the National Coastal Management Plan). According to the aforementioned law, in Art. 10. “The beaches are public goods for the common use of the people, always being guaranteed free and frank access to them and to the sea, in any direction and direction (…)” Brazil (1988).

Besides that, in 2010, the National Policy for Solid Waste - PNRS - (Federal Law 12.305/10) was created, report in Art. 16 § 3 that which makes those generated from civil construction waste responsible for managing them and depending on the quantity to submit the management plan to the competent agency, Brasil (2010).

The development of allotments’ expansion has increased the social and environmental impacts in the Praia do Saco region, among them: vegetal suppression (Atlantic Forest, Sandbank and Mangrove), affecting the migration of birds and reducing animal populations; irregular disposal of solid waste, mainly from civil in the beach strip and surroundings; discharge of effluents in the canal of the Manguaba lagoon; irregular occupation of the beach strip and other areas of permanent protection; interference in fishing activity and the spawning of sea turtles and displacement of traditional communities.

Although it is an used-restricted area, real estate and land speculation are quite present. In this same region, there are surrounded lands, awaiting the "improvements" in the local infrastructure, already announced by the municipal management of Marechal Deodoro.

The development of allotments’ expansion also impacted This increase in land use and occupation by "residential" and allotments, where public space is privatized to the detriment of private space, already affects traditional local residents and contributes to socio-spatial segregation. This kind of occupation forces visitors or older local residents to seek other places for work, housing and leisure, interfering, for example, in the fishing activity carried out on the beach. It is noteworthy that these high-standard real estate facilities made local residents change their original economic activities to provide services to these residences and commercial establishments.

The expansion of high-standard real estate developments has increased socio-spatial segregation and environmental problems. As Carlos says:

The violent transformation of the areas where the new projects are established expels the residents and implants a homogeneous aesthetic pattern. Concrete and glass are used to create an image of the "modern" in the new buildings focused on service sector activities and condominium forms are created in the residential sectors. With this, a new "order" is established from the action of real estate promoters linked to the strategies of the financial system that guides and reorganizes the process of spatial reproduction through the fragmentation of the spaces sold and bought in the market. (CARLOS, 2015, p. 27).

These factors directly influence the working class that is forced to develop their activities and live in spaces without the minimum of health and often impacted by grid enterprises, installed to meet the interests of those who hold the largest share of capital. In this logic, traditional communities located in areas of interest of the real estate circuit are displaced. The real estate market entrepreneurs together with the State articulate and promote some strategies to guarantee real estate speculation. Some of these strategies are increase in taxes related to land, buy land and properties and leave them for a certain time "empty", that is, speculate the area while the State promotes structural improvements.

In the Praia do Saco region, the community that historically lives in the place suffers a pressure by the new real estate developments. Many times the poorer population cannot resist the new dynamics imposed by the arrival of the condominiums and allotments and is plundered, occupying the socially vulnerable peripheries.

The aesthetics attributed to merchandise, in the case of real estate, is used as nature rarities or amenities to add value and capital. However, the increase of these enterprises, as in Praia do Saco, is inversely proportional to the idea of rarity and amenities, which makes this process contradictory in its essence, given the limits to explore nature from a space change.

The current social structure, based on capitalist relations, transforms everything into merchandise. This strategy, together with the exploitation of nature and the working class is at the same time condition and contradiction. It becomes a condition to the extent that natural resources and the labor force are essential to maintenance and accumulate capital; however, the tireless search for added value has generated conflicts and socio-environmental impacts. For example, contamination and pollution of the soils, water resources, impacts on the flora and fauna, and also producing negative consequences for housing conditions and the health of the population. These impacts are evident in Praia do Saco, even though there is legal apparatus that theoretically protects these areas from intense use.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

Accumulating Capital through real estate production is highlighted in the contemporary capital logic to self-reproduce. The ways of adding value to goods in the process to produce the space are related to various strategies of developers that awaken specific desires to potential buyers. This is a totaling process, but with its particularities according to the site and its history. As of Praia do Saco, nature, the proximity to the center of Maceió and the discourse of sustainability appear as central elements that compose the aesthetics of this expensive and restricted merchandise. However, the relationship with nature is contradictory, as the discourse tends towards to preserve and protect these spaces, but the practice reveals a great socio-environmental impact.

In this case at Praia do Saco, as in many others, the State is as an important agent working as regulator of real estate agents, restricting licenses and inspecting arbitrariness. Despite that, it plays the role of legitimizer of the infractions established along the allotments in Massagueira. Is it possible to realize that the State have acted as mediators of private interests in the production of urban space, legislating in favor of specific actions, or contradictorily not applying the laws that restrict the uses of certain areas, as was possible to verify in the case of Praia do Saco in relation to environmental legislation.

The entrepreneurs’ dystopian discourse is clear when they associate nature and environmental sustainability to an enterprise that causes environmental impact from the beginning. This strategy is no longer a novelty in terms of exchange value for the purpose of increasing profit. The hegemonic agent is not only the developer, but also the buyer of the real estate, because the idea of use value as a simple interest of the buyer for the use of the goods is not enough.

Noteworthy are the various social meanings promoted by the signs attached to the real estate, since it is a society of classes, in which it is not only the use that is in question, but the restricted appropriation, the rarity, the distinction, the exclusivity of use and access to the goods and the elements that surround it. As in this case, the nature of a coastal area, and it is before said that segregation is established, producing processes of spoliation and displacement of those who have previously established themselves in these areas but are unable to insert themselves in the new dynamic produced by the transformation of this space.

This process of real estate expansion on the southern coast of the Metropolitan Region of Maceió, northeast Brazil, intent to produce these enterprises with the purpose to reproduce and accumulate capital. However this process has reproduced a rise displacement, where areas are appropriated by entrepreneurs and traditional communities are expelled directly or indirectly.

These actions have directly interfered in the maintenance of natural resources and especially in the relationship of traditional communities with the environment that has ensured subsistence. What it seems is that these environmental protection areas are configured as land reserves for the action of the hegemonic agents that produce space, an articulation between capitalists and the State in a game of regularization of land use for specific purposes.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  24 Jan 2022
• Date of issue
  2020

History

• Received
  11 Sept 2018
• Accepted
  13 Jan 2020