Production of urban space in Marabá (PA): trajectories and processes

Producción del espacio urbano en Marabá (PA): trayectorias y procesos

Abstract

Analyzes are carried out, mediated by the survey of authors and theoretical foundations, about the process of production of urban space in Marabá, and the processes that contributed to the spatial configurations that make up today. The survey carried out made it possible to identify a trajectory that presents similarities, but also particularities, when reading about the process of constitution of cities in the Amazon, influencing the production of an urban space that presents organization in Nuclei that have peculiar characteristics, containing also representations of the trajectory of the city's constitution process.

Keywords:
Urban; Amazon; Marabá (PA)

Resumen

El análisis se realiza a través del relevamiento de autores y bases teóricas, sobre el proceso de producción del espacio urbano en Marabá, y los procesos que concurrieron a las configuraciones espaciales que integran la actualidad. La encuesta posibilitó la identificación de una trayectoria que presenta aproximaciones, pero también particularidades, al hacer la lectura sobre el proceso de constitución de las ciudades en la Amazonia, influyendo en la producción de un espacio urbano que presenta organización en Núcleos que tienen características peculiares, conteniendo también representaciones de la trayectoria del proceso de constitución de la ciudad.

Palabras clave:
Urbano; Amazon; Marabá (PA)

Resumo

São realizadas análises mediadas pelo levantamento de autores e fundamentação teórica acerca do processo de produção do espaço urbano em Marabá, e os processos que concorreram para as configurações espaciais que integram a atualidade. O levantamento efetuado, possibilitou a identificação de uma trajetória que apresenta aproximações, mas também particularidades, quando efetuada a leitura sobre o processo de constituição das cidades na Amazônia, influenciando a produção de um espaço urbano que apresenta organização em Núcleos que possuem características peculiares, contendo também representações da trajetória do processo de constituição da cidade.

Palavras-chave:
Urbano; Amazônia; Marabá (PA)

Introduction

Thinking about the city and the urban involves the recognition of the place where they are inserted, as a way to approach the influences received, throughout the effectiveness of processes such as migration and the role of economic activities carried out. In this proposal, we start from readings that deal with cities in the Amazon, covering reflections that refer to the processes that make up their constitution, with emphasis on the views on urban dynamics in Marabá (PA).

From the above, understanding the paths of investigation, the article aims to present reflections on the trajectory of the production of urban space in Marabá, in association with the readings on recent processes. For that, the methodological procedures were constituted by research in theoretical reference, for the composition of analyzes on the debates carried out around the themes related to the production of urban space, and the observations on the processes that integrate the urban dynamics in Marabá.

Marabá in the context of the city and the urban in the Amazon

At this moment, there is a regression to analyze the influences received by the city of Marabá, in an installation trajectory, marked by the role of economic cycles, but also by interventions from government projects in an approximation of the processes in the Amazonian context, but also the influences of dynamics that are carried out, externally, to the Amazonian reality.

Looking at aspects of Marabá's location reveals that it is part of the Southeast region of Pará, with an area of 15,128,058 km², characterizing itself as a regional capital. Data from the 2010 Demographic Census showed the existence of a population of 233,669 inhab., predominantly families with three residents in the household, a population density of 15.45 inhab. /km² (IBGE, 2010).

From a political point of view, Marabá gained existence, on the map of the Southeast region of Pará, from the dismemberment of the municipality of Baião, carried out in 1913. The aforementioned municipality also incorporated the municipalities that are currently called São João do Araguaia, Conceição do Araguaia and the District of Alcobaça (today Tucuruí) (BAIÃO, 2021).

Thinking about the formation of Marabá, in the context of the groups that initially constituted the population, and the construction of demands as an example of housing, involves the recognition of the roles played by the different economic cycles of production, among them, those who assumed expressiveness: chestnuts, wood and gold, responsible for strengthening the economy, but which also contributed to the implementation of processes marked by the size of the immigration contingent, and which acted to influence the expansion of spatial occupation processes. In this plot, Rodrigues (2010) explains that the commercial importance assumed by Marabá, in the 20th century, implied the effectuation of migratory cycles, in addition to stimulating the structuring of a network of commercial relations between Marabá and other cities in Pará.

Resuming the readings on the Amazon urbanization process, as a way of locating the role of external and internal influences, in Marabá, the observations that deal with the configuration of "forest cities", pointing to the predominance of of this configuration, in the region, until the 1960s. These were marked by the presence of small towns and associated with river circulation, characterized by the existence of expressive links with nature and non-modern rural life. In the context of these cities, the articulations established with the surroundings or nearby localities made up of towns, villages and riverside communities stand out. Currently, there is a tendency to modify these characteristics related to the life of the forest, but these cities still constitute subsidies for the characterization of some sub-regions of the Amazon (TRINDADE JÚNIOR, 2013).

When compared with the “cities in the forests”, the author, in debate, observes that they are not mutually exclusive, since they make it possible to think about the complexity of urban life in the region, revealing the coexistence of different temporalities and spatialities, which are marked by one and the other, notably in relatively more transformed realities. In this way, it is possible to verify that Marabá, despite imposing external influences, still maintains activities that make it possible to verify the link with the “natural”, as can be seen in communities that still use fishing as an important means of survival.

Complementing these observations, Becker (2009) points out that cities in the Amazon played an essential logistical role in the occupation process. Thus, in 1996, the Amazon became an urbanized forest, with 61% of the population and 69%, in 2000, that were located in urban centers. It was also observed a process that took place through urban deconcentration, marked by the growth of population numbers in cities with less than 100 thousand inhabitants.

In the recent trajectory, it is evident the analysis of the period, in which the pattern of occupation and population, verified in the Amazon from 1966, presented emphasis in the years of 1970 and 1980, from the interference of governmental programs of expansion of the agricultural frontier., associated with urban structures, whether existing ones or even those that were planned and received public investments, in addition to strengthening institutions. This moment was marked by the concentration of demand for labor, most of which were composed of migrants who constituted intense and growing flows and who, therefore, influenced the urban dynamics of many cities in the Amazon, involving, for example, elementary demands. for life, such as housing and basic health and education services (CASTRO, 2008).

Especially after 1968, there was an emphasis on fiscal and credit mechanisms that allowed the flow of capital from the Southeast to take effect. In addition, migration was stimulated, through mechanisms such as colonization projects, which aimed to effect settlement, enabling the formation of a local labor market (BECKER, 2009).

Associating the existing reality in Marabá, to the context of the approaches on the Amazon, it appears that the interactions between villages, towns and cities depended on the rubber export/import chain. The chain consisted of replacing the circulation of money with the flow of goods, in addition to the purchase and sale of goods on credit (aviamento). If, on the one hand, it was easy to expand commercial activity, on the other hand, it made it difficult to capture the surplus in each place, inhibiting the diversification of productive activities (MACHADO, 1999).

From the above, it appears that cities in the Amazon, at first, were associated with the dynamics of life, marked by the relationship with elements such as forests and rivers. However, changes were observed when they began to receive interventions from the so-called Great Government Projects, which contributed to the attraction of migrants, who moved to compose the workforce, helping the population increase. In this context, Marabá was marked by the role of economic cycles, such as mining, in addition to having a spatial accessibility that allowed arrivals by road or rivers, and which attracted a significant population, also generating basic needs not always offered in the region. city, exposing, at the same time, infrastructural demands, such as those related to housing.

The in-depth analysis from the point of view of the impacts of economic cycles shows that, among the activities that took on a relevant role, during these cycles, rubber stands out, especially, associated with international requirements, which were fundamental for the promotion of transformations, in the Amazonian urban network, and in the path of settlement of the territory of Pará, with the rise of areas that, still, had little exploitation. The described conjuncture asserts the association of factors that converged so that the “Vale do Itacaiúnas”, near the confluence between the Tocantins and Itacaiúnas rivers, began to play a role of strategic relevance (TOURINHO, 1991).

This reflection is reiterated by Velho (2009), when he observes that, even with the displacement of groups linked to the rubber cycle, to areas that did not flood, the mouth of the Itacaíúnas began to compose a new interest, associated with the fact that they were located there., the Tocantins and Itacaiúnas rivers, with their tributaries, which constituted the two main drainage routes in the region. Due to this characteristic, the commercial sheds are now installed at this point of confluence of the rivers.

The initial reflections make it possible to recognize the activities and dynamics that make up the trajectory of occupation of the territory, processes that will contribute, among others, to the configuration of a spatial production composed by the coexistence of urban centers.

Production of space and multiple urban centralities in Marabá

The approach of the urban, in Marabá, mediated by a return to the debates and practices that influenced the formation of a city divided into Nuclei, permeates the resumption of reflections, on the bias of national integration and the attractiveness of migrants, on a large scale. In this perspective, Tourinho (1991) observes that the Pioneiro Nucleus, marked by constant flooding and the limitations for the installation of housing imposed by the presence of rivers, by the flooded or flooded areas, by the cattle ranches, and by the private property regime of land, focused on land speculation, underwent small changes in what involves equipment, services and urban layout.

The transformations observed in the process of occupation of Marabá until the present time, refer to the fact that, as in many Amazonian cities, the concentration of land appears as a practice that produces contradictions and conflicts. Therefore, when approaching Marabá, from this reality, Tourinho (1991) points out that the 1960s were marked by the actions of the Union, in the sphere of granting tax and credit incentives, also gaining emphasis, the process of opening the border Amazonian economy that contributed to transformations in the productive structure and to alterations in the urban space. In this way, tax incentives from the Superintendence for Urban Development in the Amazon (SUDAM) and Banco da Amazon Bank for farmers and landowners attracted productive capital and speculators to the region.

The presence of a contingent of migrants from the 1960s onwards is corroborated by Machado (1999), who, during the analysis of the Amazon associated with the growth in the number of cities, points out that this attractiveness was exercised through processes, such as the concentration of land ownership and agrarian investments, since the allocation of masses of workers, in the face of increasingly privatized spaces, could only be carried out in spaces “open” to socialization, which correspond, here, to urban spaces . For this reason, Amazonian towns, villages and cities emerged or grew as a result of the existence of a number of “landless” immigrants. In addition, it was also common to carry out extensive deforestation, promoted by large landowners, using salaried labor, implying that workers (and their families) are installed in agglomerations, instead of on farms; dynamics that characterized the southeast of Pará.

Contributing to this process, there is accessibility, from the opening of roads, as can be seen in the fact that the articulation with other regions was accentuated by the construction of the first stretch of the PA-70 in 1962 (currently BR- 222, which connects Marabá to the Belém-Brasília highway). The set of these actions helped to increase the attraction of migrants to the middle Tocantins of Pará, allowing, at the same time, the expansion of examples of land uses, marked by land concentration.

The construction of roads acted as a practice capable of modifying the conditions of mobility and occupation of the territory. When analyzed, this process, in the light of Marabá, it appears that the passage of highways BR-230 (Transamazônica, main axis of state articulation in the East-West direction) and PA-150 (main axis of state articulation in the North-West direction) Sul), in addition to the Carajás Railroad (built to facilitate the flow of iron ore extracted from the region) were factors that potentiated the adoption of Marabá as a regional node (CARDOSO; LIMA, 2009).

There is, therefore, the existence of advertising and government incentives, which culminated in the transformation of the municipality into one of the main gateways for the flows of workers and capital. That said, the city became the main support center for the new pattern of occupation and accumulation that was being implemented, guided by the action of the State in the Amazon region.

In this course of transformations, it was possible to examine that the scarcity of land, which was not devastated by the floods, in Marabá Pioneira, led to population density in other areas, which would constitute the Amapá and São Félix Nuclei, in addition to the building process, in empty lots, oriented to the process of land valuation through sale or rent.

In this process, the coexistence of contexts marked by the worsening of the occupation of flooded areas, difficulties in managing and installing infrastructure in three dispersed Nuclei, in addition to the needs imposed by the growing number of immigrants, composed, initially, by peasant fronts that did not managed to produce, in other regions of the country, and were attracted by the tax incentives made available by the Union. These factors led to a series of debates, aimed at evaluating the appropriate directions for the expansion of the Pioneiro Nucleus, whose physical characteristics, associated with land concentrations, implied the impossibility of accommodating the number of people who demanded housing (TOURINHO, 1991).

The constant floods gave life in the city an unstable character, and, due to the new projects that were being implemented, and the inadequacy of the original site, implied the need to build a “new city”. With a position of the municipal management, influenced by people who held the economic power of the period, in 1967, the City Hall of Marabá reserved an area for urban expansion that benefited the owners of chestnut trees, insofar as no interventions would be carried out on the lands of these; these, at the time, were responsible for controlling the municipal power. Thus, through an agreement between the Federal Housing and Urbanism Service (SERFHAU) and Rondon Project, a report was prepared that declared the Amapá neighborhood as ideal for the growth of the city, recommending the elaboration of the Master Plan for Integrated Development for the municipality. (TOURINHO, 1991).

At this point, Becker (2009) is taken up again, for whom the manipulation of territory, through the appropriation of land from the States, was a fundamental element of the Federal Government's strategy, which created, by decree, territories over which it exercised absolute jurisdiction. and/or property rights.

In the context of the large intervention projects implemented in Marabá, the role of the plan for the construction of the Nova Marabá Nucleus in the 1970s is verified, which went beyond the search for meeting the demand, for housing, for those who lived in flooded areas., at Núcleo Marabá Pioneira, also revealing interests in meeting the demands of the mining economic cycle, population absorption from other regions of the country, insofar as the existence of a planned nucleus could represent indicators of quality of life, in addition to acting on political issues of the time, such as the search for combating the expansion of PC do B's performance, in the composition of the Guerrilha do Araguaia, which could be strengthened from the attraction of landless immigrants and expropriated workers from Marabá.

It is important to observe that, even with the progress of the measures for the formulation and implementation of the Nova Marabá plan, the existing nuclei remained with accentuated growth, with emphasis on the presence of immigrants, in addition to public and military institutions (TOURINHO, 1991).

Some processes stand out in this socio-spatial formation, such as the deepening of mineral research, in Serra dos Carajás, and the extraction of ores, in the 1980s, Marabá comes to be considered, a buffer of population flows that moved to the region. , thus preventing them from settling in mineral extraction areas.

In addition, the obstruction of the Tocantins River, carried out after the construction of the Tucuruí Hydroelectric Power Plant, in the 1980s, stands out, and which negatively impacted river transport, since many large vessels were unable to travel along the river. On the other hand, the Estrada de Ferro Carajás railroad gains emphasis, insofar as it acted as a reinforcement to attract migratory flows from the Northeast, which had already been configured since the installation of the city. This node situation, aided by the coexistence of transport modes, which allowed the interconnection with other municipalities, in addition to the economic cycles, which attracted population flows from different regions, generated pressures on the urban expansion process, which accompanied the demands for housing., as one of the fundamental conditions for life in the city (CARDOSO; LIMA, 2009).

In summary, it is possible to verify that the process of socio-spatial formation of Marabá is marked by the presence of the rubber and nut oligarchies, therefore, with an economic base based on plant extractivism until the 1960s. process of territorial restructuring, which implied changes in the relations between countryside and city, therefore, the recent urban configurations point to the coexistence of functionalities for the rural environment, which implies the expanded reproduction of capital, with emphasis on the expansion of agribusiness (RODRIGUES, 2010).

From the above, it is initially verified the processes that marked the constitution of Marabá, and the influences exerted, by the dynamics of occupation, and that unfolded, in the Amazon region, mediated, for the most part, by external influences, but encompassing, also, nuances of the processes that make up the way of life, marked by the presence of elements, such as the forest and the rivers.

This superposition, when approached in Marabá, allows the verification of diversified dynamics, marked by the presence of migrants from different states of Brazil, economic cycles that assumed expressiveness, in the influence on the configuration of the urban, in addition to the issues that encompass demands present in other states. Brazilian cities, such as the search for housing.

The analysis of the occupation process and constitution of the urban centers that compose Marabá, nowadays, associated to the different contexts of internal and external agents to the city, leads to the recognition of the different moments that contributed to the configuration of a polynucleated city, whose Nuclei attracted the installation of activities aimed at meeting the basic demands of residents, generating particularities.

When observing the urban perimeter, in Marabá, it is possible to perceive the practice of concentration of wealth and investments in the city. Therefore, the city's trajectory reveals that it has become a mosaic of Nuclei, which, when associated with inefficient management, resulted in informal occupations, without basic structures, generating, among others, environmental problems (CARDOSO; LIMA, 2009).

Map 1 represents the process of expansion of the occupation of urban space in Marabá, enabling the identification of spatial cuts that were incorporated into the urban area until 2004. The city underwent a continuous process of alteration of the urban perimeter, which was accompanied by a series of dynamics, such as: the arrival of immigrants, the elaboration of projects and the installation of urban centers, as well as the occupation of new areas that are now incorporated into the existing urban centers, and the creation of centers resulting from the need to new areas for the contingents of immigrants who arrived in the city.

Map 1
Evolution of urban occupation in Marabá.

The dynamics that make up the Urban Centers, in Marabá, point to the analysis of urban centralities, insofar as the look, which precedes the approach of each Center individually, leads to theoretical reflections, which help the reading of this process of formation of different centralities.

In the process of production of urban space, there is the movement of centrality, marked by different modes and relations of production, of the different relations of production, but also polycentrality, which corresponds to the rupture of the center and establishes, in practice, the constitution of different centers and make it possible to carry out processes related to dispersion and also to segregation (LEFEBVRE, 2008).

The look at the multiple centralities is also helped by the reflections of Lopes Júnior; Santos (2010), when observing the constitution of new areas, with commercial activities, and flows that allow the verification of new centralities. In this way, the concentration of activities is also carried out in spatial areas that do not include the one that is traditionally identified as the central area, enabling the fulfillment of the population's demands, which does not need to carry out significant displacements.

Final considerations

The survey carried out, in a perspective of constituting a path with a view to recent processes, made it possible to identify a trajectory that presents approximations, but also particularities, when reading about the process of constitution of cities in the Amazon, with mediations that point to the coexistence of multiple interventions by different agents and economic activities, throughout the process of spatial occupation configuration.

The influence exerted by multiple processes such as economic cycles, contributed, among others, to the configuration of the production of an urban space that presents organization in Nuclei that have peculiar characteristics, demands and representations of the processes that were carried out in different temporal cuts, but that keep nowadays indicative of production the space that disregards, in many moments, the peculiarities of the organization of cities in the Amazon.

References

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  25 July 2022
• Date of issue
  2022

History

• Received
  28 Dec 2021
• Accepted
  28 Mar 2022