Urban processes and local management: the cases of Ribeirão Preto and Piracicaba, between the urban entrepreneurism and the City Statute

Abstract

This article is the result of a comparative study of urban processes in municipalities in the interior of the state of São Paulo since the City Statute (Federal Law 10,257 of 2001, which regulates articles 182 and 183 of the Federal Constitution of 1988, related to urban policy). The main variables in the study are: (i) the urban impacts of the production restructuring of the sugarcane agroindustry and (ii) the actions of the public and private actors in the urban configuration and city management. The process of financialization of the world economy since 1990 imposed the reduction of the State, intensified international competitiveness, promoting a broad process of production restructuring and the internationalization of the Brazilian agribusiness, impacting the territories integrating the commodities production chains. The cities became protagonists and their advantage in terms of location has been used by the public and private sectors in order to attract business characterizing urban entrepreneurism. Concomitantly, the implementation of the City Statute subordinated urban dynamics to the social function of property and to urban inclusion. This contradiction is analyzed using as reference two municipalities located in two sugarcane regions of the state of São Paulo: Piracicaba (older city) and Ribeirão Preto (more dynamic) analyzing data from the last decades. Through the analysis of demographic, socioeconomic and public spending data, it was found that urban entrepreneurism has been the hallmark of municipal management, ignoring the City Statute and the regulation established by the master plans, which have been systematically modified to meet the economic imperatives and real estate expansion.

Keywords:
City Statute; Sugarcane agroindustry; Urban management