A “periphery” in the “center”: the case of Vila Vicentina (Fortaleza, State of Ceará)

Abstract

In this paper, we question the categories "center" and "periphery," whose geographic fixity fails to account for the transformation dynamics of intraurban space. We propose the categories "centrality" and "peripherization" to analyze the case of the Vila Vicentina Resistance Movement. This movement has fought against the eviction of poor people who have been successively occupying, since the 1930s, a set of houses situated in an area that, over the years, has become a high-income neighborhood in the city of Fortaleza. We analyze the movement's strategies, which include the regulation of Special Zones of Social Interest (ZEIS) and the heritage listing of the site, based on its convivial and historical characteristics. The movement's actions combine participation in institutional decision-making bodies with strategies of confrontation and political pressure.

Keywords
Vila Vicentina; social movements; Special Zones of Social Interest; heritage listing

Resumo

Neste trabalho, questionamos as categorias “centro” e “periferia”, cuja fixidez geográfica não dá conta da dinâmica de transformações do espaço intraurbano. Propomos as categorias “centralidade” e “periferização” para analisar o caso do Movimento Resistência Vila Vicentina, que luta contra a remoção de uma vila de casas ocupadas por pessoas pobres desde os anos 1930, situada em local que, ao longo dos anos, transformou-se num bairro de alta renda de Fortaleza. Analisamos as estratégias do movimento, que incluem a regulamentação das Zonas Especiais de Interesse Social (Zeis) e o tombamento da localidade, por suas características conviviais e históricas. A atuação do movimento combina participação em instâncias decisórias institucionais e estratégias de confronto e pressão política.

Palavras-chave
Vila Vicentina; movimentos sociais; Zonas Especiais de Interesse Social; tombamento

Introduction¹

This article discusses the strategies used by residents of a "periphery," the Vila Vicentina da Estância,² to resist eviction from the Dionísio Torres neighborhood in Fortaleza/CE. The real estate appreciation of this neighborhood benefited from the formation of a new centrality, Aldeota, an alternative to the city's historical center, starting in the 1970s. When Vila Vicentina was built in the late 1930s, the location was virtually uninhabited, but over time it came to be encompassed within the Aldeota centrality due to the neighborhood's expansion – which was more symbolic than geographic, as will be seen.

The text is divided into two sections, in addition to this Introduction and the Conclusion. The first section presents the categories used to characterize the object of this case study, pointing out that "center" and "periphery" are not fixed or static locations, given that they are historically constructed spaces whose material and symbolic conditions are constantly shifting. Hence, we consider the terms "centrality" and "peripherization" to be more appropriate.

In the second section, we discuss the formation of the social movement Resistência Vila Vicentina (RVV) in response to a real estate market offensive in 2016. During that year, a developer negotiated the purchase of ten out of forty-five houses from resident families in exchange for compensation far below the properties' locational value. The buyer obtained a repossession order – granted and shortly thereafter revoked by the same judge – and initiated the demolition of some of the acquired houses. This demolition generated significant backlash and catalyzed the dissatisfaction of residents opposed to the removal of Vila Vicentina (VV), leading to the formation of the RVV social movement. A portion of the families joined together and sought external supporters, who suggested resistance strategies that we classify into two main fronts, each addressed in a dedicated subsection: the housing front, focused on including the Vila in the category of Special Zones of Social Interest (ZEIS), prioritized for regulation by the Municipal Government of Fortaleza; and the heritage front, aimed at securing heritage listing (tombamento) for the Vila. Both fronts involve measures capable of protecting the Vila against displacement and preserving the integrity of the housing cluster, thereby avoiding the perpetuation of urban segregation policies.

The production of centralities and peripheries

For a clearer understanding of the studied case, a reflection on the usage of the categories "center" and "periphery," mentioned in the title of this article, is necessary. As will be shown, the emergence of a new center in Fortaleza resulted from the shift over time of functions and land uses within the intraurban territory. This followed expansion vectors usually driven by new road axes in a dynamic process that affected various parts of the city. The term "centrality" is more appropriate, as it avoids viewing the "center" as a fixed form (Diógenes, 2005) and better captures the dynamics of Fortaleza's urban expansion regarding the territory examined here. Similarly, the term "periphery" needs to be problematized to understand the case of Vila Vicentina da Estância (VVE).

In the extensive literature on peripheral spaces in Brazil, the prevailing tendency is to treat them as though they exist on the geographic "margins" of cities and possess homogeneous characteristics: land tenure insecurity, precarious housing, urban informality, and related deficits. However, the issue is less about spatial coordinates (Birman, 2013) than power asymmetries that generate conditions of vulnerability, which manifest in the aforementioned precarious conditions.

In Fortaleza, the historic center developed primarily from the mid-19th century onward, when the city achieved economic and political dominance through cotton exports.³ Large-scale edifices (public buildings, commercial and service establishments, residential townhouses) and municipal infrastructure (horse-drawn streetcars, gas lighting, paved roads) concentrated around what is today Praça do Ferreira. Urban plans were developed to direct growth, notably Adolfo Herbster's 1875 plan, which – inspired by Haussmann's renovations in Paris – introduced wide boulevards. These correspond today to Imperador, D. Manuel, and Duque de Caxias avenues, which still delineate the boundaries of the historic center and its adjacent arteries (Costa, 2017).

It is beyond the scope of this paper to detail Fortaleza's contemporary urban expansion, as this has been analyzed by other authors, such as Diógenes (2005), Costa (2017), Rufino (2012), and Silva (2025). Nevertheless, it is essential to highlight key aspects related to the formation of the Aldeota centrality to empirically locate the focus of this article.

In the 1920s, land occupation in the Aldeota neighborhood was sparse, consisting mainly of farms and smallholdings. The first land subdivisions date back to this period, with Avenida do Colégio (now Santos Dumont) serving as the expansion vector. Its occupation gathered momentum in the 1950s through the construction of middle- and upper-class housing attracted by the pleasant climate (Jucá, 2003). The historic center still concentrated residential, administrative, commercial, and financial activities, while the western zone, formerly occupied by high-end housing, came to house incipient industrial activity and working-class residences (Diógenes, 2005).

Starting in the 1960s, Fortaleza experienced rapid growth, reaching over one million inhabitants by the late 1970s. The historic center began to hollow out: residential use lost significance, public sector headquarters relocated to more distant neighborhoods (the state government built an administrative center in Cambeba), and low-cost retail became dominant. What emerged was "[...] a linear centrality projecting toward the east and southeast" (Pequeno, 2001, p. 80). To the east, in Aldeota, middle- and upper-income residential density intensified, and the neighborhood began attracting modern commercial and service establishments, along with heavy flows of people and vehicles, triggering real estate appreciation.

The centrality of Aldeota transcended spatial boundaries, expanding over time into neighboring areas and reinforcing a homogenizing perception of the region (Rufino, 2012). This resulted from high-standard residences, public investments (such as road openings and paving, water supply, and sewage systems), and the consequent rise in land value. Aldeota acquired the image of an "elegant neighborhood”, which replicated across adjacent districts, generating an "Aldeotization" of the city (Silva, 1992). The opening of Antônio Sales and Padre Antônio Tomás avenues induced urban growth to the east and southeast, giving rise to neighborhoods such as Meireles, Cocó, and Dionísio Torres.

In the late 1930s, the Dionísio Torres neighborhood began to be settled through rural activities developed by an entrepreneur who subdivided the area and donated a plot of land to the philanthropic organization Sociedade São Vicente de Paulo. On this site, in the late 1930s, Vila Vicentina was built – a housing cluster intended primarily for impoverished women, mostly widows with children.⁴

Over subsequent decades, Dionísio Torres, much like Aldeota, began attracting commercial enterprises, services, and middle- to upper-class residences, benefiting from public investment in urban infrastructure and basic sanitation (water supply, sewage systems, electricity, waste collection, etc.). The opening, extension, and asphalt paving of major thoroughfares, such as Antônio Sales, Desembargador Moreira, and Padre Valdevino avenues, connected center-west to east and north-south flows, improving accessibility and bringing heavy vehicular and bus traffic to the area (Duarte Jr. et al., 2017).

The presence of Vila Vicentina in Dionísio Torres appears anomalous, both because of the socioeconomic profile of its residents and the characteristics of the housing. However, VV's location alone is not what makes it peculiar, as the existence of low-income settlements in central areas is not uncommon: within Aldeota itself, for instance, one finds the communities of Quadras and Campo do América. In the case of VV, however, precariousness is relative when evaluated against the criteria used by IBGE (2023) to define "favelas and urban communities":⁵ tenure insecurity; irregular construction patterns, often stemming from self-building; road layouts non-compliant with urban regulations; and an absence or scarcity of public services (such as basic sanitation) and essential collective facilities (education, health, commerce, leisure, culture, etc.).

In VV, while residents lack formal legal documents guaranteeing property ownership, the initial land occupation was not irregular, as it was built on a plot within a subdivision officially approved by the Municipal Government. Regarding construction standards, although no documentation proving professional technical oversight has been located (Duarte Jr. et al., 2017),⁶ it is unlikely that the Vila was self-built, given the uniformity of the building layouts, despite subsequent structural modifications made by residents to the internal layout over time (ibid.). The block occupied by VV integrates into the grid of Dionísio Torres (Figure 1), even as it contrasts sharply with the neighboring high--rises along Antônio Sales Avenue – an aspect that, in fact, produces a positive aesthetic effect by breaking visual monotony (ibid., p. 27).

Figure 1
– Aerial view of Vila Vicentina, highlighting bordering streets

Residents have pedestrian access to surrounding public squares and commercial establishments, as well as convenient transit across the city due to a road network served by multiple bus lines. VV is connected to the electrical grid, water supply, and sewage network (Iplanfor, 2020).

Regarding internal shared facilities, only a chapel and a 2,796 m² central courtyard (a shared yard) – discussed further below – remain active. Until the 1990s, the Sociedade São Vicente de Paulo maintained a school, a dental clinic, and a medical dispensary on site; these facilities were eventually decommissioned and converted into residential units (Rocha, 2021). The loss of these facilities illustrates that just as new centralities are created, processes of peripherization also occur – manifested through actions or omissions that degrade living conditions in places inhabited by low-income populations, even when the broader surrounding area offers favorable conditions.

The houses that make up VV are modest, semi-detached, single-story structures consisting of a living room, bedroom, bathroom, and service area, with footprints ranging from 25 m² to 179 m² (Duarte Jr. et al., 2017). This variation reflects post-construction expansions undertaken by residents over time, adding rooms and makeshift extensions (puxadinhos) to enlarge service areas. These structures do not conform to current lot size and coverage ratio regulations designated for the zone (Iplanfor, 2020).

An interesting architectural aspect of the complex is the presence of an unpaved, vegetated shared courtyard in the center of the block (Figure 1), to which the kitchens and service areas of the houses connect. This courtyard is used for recreational activities, including sports and community celebrations.

The house facades feature visible doors and windows opening directly onto the street, except for those facing high-traffic arteries (Antônio Sales Avenue and Tibúrcio Cavalcante Street), which are partially screened by low boundary walls (Duarte Jr. et al., 2017). Walls and houses are painted gray by mandate of the philanthropic organization that previously managed the site, earning it the nickname "Vila Cinzenta" (Gray Village). This uniform color scheme renders VV less visible despite its location on busy streets, serving as a symbolic mechanism that produces a peripheral condition for a space that is geographically non-peripheral.

The "periphery" insurgency

The Vila "in the eye of the storm"

VVE has been targeted by real estate developers seeking to acquire the land to erect high-end residential towers and realize substantial profits. As a consequence, the Vila sits "in the eye of the storm":⁷ its prime location makes it vulnerable to aggressive real estate speculation, as became strikingly clear in 2016. That year, a real estate buyer negotiated the acquisition of ten houses directly with residents in exchange for derisory payouts (50,000 BRL or a house in Maracanaú, a municipality in the Fortaleza Metropolitan Area) – a fraction of their true value given that VV occupies some of the most expensive real estate per square meter in Fortaleza.⁸ Anticipating the full buyout of all units, the developer placed temporary occupants in the acquired properties. The presence of these outsiders caused discomfort and distress among long-time residents,⁹ heightening tensions and internal conflict.

On October 28 of that year, the buyer obtained a favorable court order for a writ of repossession; however, on the very same day, the judge suspended the action, declaring it groundless because it involved the destruction of the property to be returned (Juiz..., 2016). Before this reversal was issued, three of the ten negotiated houses had already been entirely demolished, and five others partially destroyed (Vila…, 2016).

The event spread rapidly across social media networks such as Facebook and WhatsApp: one shared video recorded over two thousand views and shares within hours. The use of digital platforms in such contexts underscores their potential to highlight the "periphery", bringing visibility to situations that are otherwise lost amidst the routine neglect and aggression faced by low-income urban residents. The event also resonated offline, drawing social movement representatives, city council members, attorneys, researchers, university professors, and other stakeholders to the site.

The demolitions acted as a mobilizing event (Santos, 1981) – a critical turning point that amplified public attention and catalyzed organized community action and institutional pushback among residents opposed to the sales, a response that had previously remained latent. Days prior to the demolitions, a news report on the dispute over the Vila had been published in the newspaper O Povo (Araújo, 2016); while it raised initial awareness, it lacked the dramatic impact of the mobilizing event, which accelerated direct confrontation with the parties involved (Santos, 1981; Turner, 2008).

As a key catalyst for social movements, a mobilizing event helps trigger collective action – "whether it involves the threat of displacement, a fire, or [...] an authoritarian urban renewal plan" – sparking a crisis that draws external actors to the cause (Santos, 1981, p. 219). However, transitioning from initial outcry to sustained collective organization incurs costs and hinges on strategies that maintain momentum while presenting viable paths toward achieving political goals (Scott, 2011).

Understanding social mobilization also requires examining how the trajectory of a problem engages broader public concern, what institutional frameworks offer potential solutions, and which public arenas are activated in the process.¹⁰ A public problem does not emerge in a vacuum; upon gaining visibility, it draws from a pre-existing repertoir¹¹ and builds on the historical experiences of prior social movements. Thus, political capital is mobilized to define, frame, and confront the crisis at hand (Cefaï, 2017).

The plight of the Vila Vicentina residents intersected with institutional and non-institutional structures that became part of the political capital used to address the conflict. The crisis activated a public arena dedicated to the right to adequate housing, uniting internal actors (residents) and external allies (activists, legal advisors, researchers, elected officials). Furthermore, the vulnerability of the residents – many of whom were elderly – evoked public empathy, drawing further scrutiny to the situation. In the wake of the demolitions, a stronger sense of shared identity emerged among those opposed to the buyouts. As one resident recalled: "Our resistance really solidified in October 2016; it was after those demolitions, out of fear of losing our homes, that we truly united".¹² This gave rise to the Resistência Vila Vicentina (RVV) movement, formed by sixteen families determined to fight land sales and eviction. The remaining nineteen families chose not to participate in the movement's actions.¹³

A social movement develops through a complex interplay of objectives, resources, and constraints; its organization cannot be separated from the "opportunity structure" (Tilly, 1978) within which action unfolds (Melucci, 2001; Tarrow, 2009; Tilly, 1978). This opportunity structure represents the political and institutional environment that shapes interactions during a conflict (Tilly, 1978). In analyzing the Vila's case, "the arena of conflict and the diverse actors who make it visible" are particularly striking, as the situation brought together individuals from varied social backgrounds and positions (Melucci, 2001, p, p. 23). Like many grassroots campaigns, the RVV is heterogeneous, bringing together political capital built from both institutional and non-institutional actors.

Beyond its immediate local scope, the movement's political outreach connects with the Frente de Luta por Moradia Digna (FLMD) – a broader network encompassing social movement representatives, civil society organizations, technical advisors, research groups, and university teams. The FLMD maintains a broad reach by bringing together actors from various territories across Fortaleza, including designated ZEIS communities, fostering cross-local dialogue and linking specific neighborhood struggles. This network relies heavily on digital communication, utilizing WhatsApp groups alongside Facebook and Instagram platforms. Ultimately, the Front facilitates collective action by enabling joint confrontation, unifying demands that were previously fragmented.

Taking the mobilizing event as a point of departure, one can identify the collective action repertoire deployed on behalf of the Vila. For the RVV movement, securing ZEIS implementation and pursuing heritage status have served as the main avenues of action, forming core strategies for advocacy, legal defense, and community mobilization.

Strategies of the Resistência Vila Vicentina

Following the mobilizing event, which provided greater internal cohesion and coordination, specific strategies were shaped to lend legitimacy and strategic direction to the Resistência Vila Vicentina movement. These comprise: the formal regulation of ZEIS status in Fortaleza – under which VV is included (termed here the housing front);¹⁴ and the municipal heritage listing of the site (termed here the heritage front).¹⁵ Given the distinct dynamics of each strategy, they are analyzed separately below.

Housing front: ZEIS as a guarantee of tenure

Early in the formation of the movement, the residents opposing the sale of their homes sought assistance from the Escritório de Assessoria Jurídica Popular Frei Tito de Alencar (EFTA), a public interest legal clinic operating within the Legislative Assembly of the State of Ceará. EFTA informed them that the land occupied by VVE had been designated as a Special Zone of Social Interest (ZEIS) under Fortaleza's 2009 Participatory Master Plan (PDP-For).¹⁶

ZEIS is an urban planning instrument established nationally by Law n. 10,257 of July 2001 (the City Statute) and Law n. 11,977 of July 2009, which regulated the Minha Casa Minha Vida program and land regularization in urban areas. Based on this framework, the 2009 PDP--For (Municipal Complementary Law n. 062 of February 2, 2009) defines ZEIS as follows:

Special Zones of Social Interest (ZEIS) are portions of land, whether publicly or privately owned, primarily intended for the urbanistic and land tenure regularization of existing low-income informal settlements, as well as the development of social housing and affordable market housing programs on unbuilt, unused, or underutilized land, subject to specific building, land subdivision, and land-use regulations. (Fortaleza, 2009, Art. 123)

This instrument provides legal protection against forced eviction in informal or under--serviced settlements, prioritizing them for public investments in urban infrastructure and housing improvements. Consequently, once implemented, ZEIS frameworks help prevent displacement, counter exclusionary urban policies, and reduce the push of low-income populations to urban margins.

In Fortaleza, the 2009 Master Plan demarcated 135 ZEIS areas – a number widely regarded as insufficient given the 843 precarious settlements identified in the Municipal Local Social Housing Plan (PLHISFor) (Freitas; Pequeno, 2012).¹⁷ The Master Plan established three ZEIS categories: Types 1 and 2 cover low--income, infrastructure-deficient areas, differing in that Type 1 originated from informal land occupations, whereas Type 2 consists of public housing projects or irregular subdivisions. Type 3 ("vacant ZEIS") consists of serviced, unbuilt, or underutilized land earmarked for future social housing development. Of the 135 designated zones, 45 were classified as Type 1, 56 as Type 2, and 34 as Type 3 (Freitas; Pequeno, 2012; Iplanfor, 2015).

As a policy tool, ZEIS designation has served as a central rallying point for social movements demanding urban land rights. In Fortaleza, leveraging this mechanism has depended heavily on the balance of political power and the negotiating capacity of community stakeholders (Gondim; Gomes, 2012). Simply listing a neighborhood as a ZEIS in statutory law is insufficient; operationalizing these protections requires specific regulatory decrees, including the formal establishment of Management Councils (Conselhos Gestores – CGs) to oversee decision-making and planning within each zone.

Despite being included in the 2009 Master Plan, the actual regulation of Fortaleza's ZEIS areas proved to be a protracted process spanning more than fifteen years.¹⁸ This delay reflects broader shifts in urban development policy since the 1988 Constitution. Neoliberal economic priorities and market-driven planning frequently created hurdles to participatory urban tools like ZEIS (Freitas, 2019).

In Fortaleza, municipal efforts to implement ZEIS began in earnest in 2013, when a decree established a technical committee to draft a baseline report on priority areas (Iplanfor, 2015). The committee brought together government officials, civil society organizations, community representatives, university research groups, and academic extension teams. Active participation varied across designated zones; nine communities demonstrated high engagement and were selected for priority regulation: Lagamar, Pici, Poço da Draga, Moura Brasil, Bom Jardim, Pirambu, Serviluz, Praia do Futuro, and Mucuripe. Although intended as a 120-day assignment, the initial technical report was finalized only in 2015 (Iplanfor, 2015).

The public visibility of Vila Vicentina's struggle, combined with community pressure over municipal delays, led to the inclusion of the Dionísio Torres ZEIS (ZDT) among the priority areas. In January 2017, a municipal decree formally added Vila Vicentina as the tenth priority ZEIS, granting it representation on the planning committee¹⁹ tasked with outlining steps for full regulatory implementation.

To advance implementation, the municipality issued Decree n. 14,211 in May 2018, establishing rules for ZEIS Management Councils. Each 14-member Council comprises six elected resident representatives, six municipal government appointees,²⁰ one local civil society representative with technical expertise in community advocacy, and one member designated by the City Council. While public officials are appointed directly, community members are elected through a process overseen by the Fortaleza Planning Institute (Iplanfor).²¹ Council members serve two-year unpayed terms.²²

The inaugural Management Council elections across the ten priority ZEIS took place between August and September 2018. Following technical training by Iplanfor, elected members were sworn in during November 2018, and the ZDT Management Council held its first meeting in February 2019. Later that year, a schedule was set to begin drafting the Integrated Land Tenure Regularization Plan (Plano Integrado de Regularização Fundiária–PIRF). The PIRF serves as the primary instrument guiding municipal intervention within a ZEIS, comprising eight core components: Work Plan; Socioeconomic, Physical-Environmental, Urbanistic, and Land Tenure Diagnosis; Regulatory Framework; Land Regularization Plan; Urbanization Plan; Employment and Income Plan; Community Participation Plan; and Integration Plan. Through this plan, specific land-use rules, zoning parameters, and infrastructure upgrades are tailored to the area in consultation with the Management Council and local residents. Given its technical nature, the PIRF is prepared by an interdisciplinary team (architects, lawyers, sociologists, public policy experts, and economists) working alongside community representatives.

To carry out these studies, Iplanfor established technical collaboration agreements with local public universities.²³ However, unlike the other priority zones, the PIRF for ZDT was conducted directly by Iplanfor's internal staff after an initial agreement with the Federal Institute of Ceará (IFCE) fell through due to administrative delays.

This change in institutional oversight delayed ZDT's timeline relative to other priority zones. The work plan for ZDT's PIRF was presented to its Council only in November 2019, a year after council members took office. Completion was targeted for July 2020, but field research and community activities were interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, pushing finalization to November 2021.

For PIRFs to take legal effect, they must be submitted to the City Council as Complementary Law Bills (Projetos de Lei Complementar–PLC). These bills grant each ZEIS regulatory autonomy over local zoning, land subdivision, and building parameters (Fortaleza, 2009). By December 2020, draft bills for the other nine priority ZEIS had been submitted to the legislature. By contrast, ZDT's draft bill was submitted to the City Council only in August 2023 – nearly two years after its technical completion – raising concerns among community members given the zone's small geographical size and population.²⁴

Overall, the process of regulating ZEIS in Fortaleza has been marked by ongoing institutional negotiation and political friction. Delays in decrees, funding allocations, and legislative submissions prompted organized responses from the FLMD network, including public demonstrations at City Hall and technical workshops within the territories. Within the RVV, recurring delays were often interpreted as administrative foot-dragging, deepening distrust toward municipal agencies. At the same time, formal participation through the Management Council provided the movement with an institutional channel to influence public decision--making (Carlos, 2018; Dowbor, 2018). This structural engagement did not eliminate tension between state actors and grassroots groups, highlighting the continued importance of non-institutional pressure alongside formal channels.

Heritage front: preservation listing as a protective measure

Alongside the housing struggle, the 2016 mobilizing event led external advisors to suggest heritage listing (tombamento) for Vila Vicentina. Proponents argued that the complex represents an important physical marker of urban expansion in Fortaleza's eastern zone, offering historical value, social cohesion, and environmental quality within the Dionísio Torres neighborhood (Duarte Jr. et al., 2017).²⁵

Unlike the participatory nature of ZEIS regulation, municipal heritage listing is primarily an administrative procedure managed by state technical bodies. Under municipal law, any citizen may petition for heritage listing, presenting a justification,²⁶ but approval rests with technical reviewers and the Municipal Council for Cultural Heritage (Comphic).²⁷

The formal petition for Vila Vicentina was submitted to the Fortaleza Municipal Secretariat of Culture (Secultfor) and granted provisional protection in November 2016. Under Article 14 of Municipal Law n. 9,347/2008, Secultfor was required to complete technical studies within six months to prepare the final review for Comphic (Fortaleza, 2008). To assist this effort, Professor Romeu Duarte Júnior co-led a research team of architecture students, a psychologist, and a sociologist to document the Vila's architectural, historical, and social characteristics (Duarte Jr. et al., 2017). Their study was submitted to Secultfor in May 2017. However, the agency has yet to finalize its official assessment for Comphic's final vote, as municipal law sets no statutory deadline for completing this phase.²⁸

Comphic's membership comprises representatives from public agencies, academic institutions, and professional associations,²⁹ without designated seats for community organizations or legal advocacy groups. Given this institutional profile, sustained pressures from social movements like RVV remain central to speed up the decision-making processes.³⁰

Within the RVV, residents generally regard provisional heritage status as a practical protective tool. As one resident observed: "Not being able to alter the outer structures of the Vila is a form of protection... It gives us stronger security knowing they cannot simply remove us from here”. At the same time, the delay in finalizing clear technical guidelines has created uncertainty regarding allowable home repairs and structural maintenance. Another resident noted: "It is important because it preserves something that belongs to the history of Fortaleza. But I don't fully understand all the heritage rules regarding what can or cannot be modified in our houses".³¹ This reflects a nuanced view among residents: while heritage designation status is valued as a defense against real estate pressures, it introduces questions about how necessary house maintenance, expansions, and family accommodations can be carried out.

Beyond the ambivalent opinions regarding the heritage listing (tombamento) of VV, it is clear that patrimonialization activates fields of dispute, confronting discourses on urban and economic development that reproduce disciplinary and hygienist aesthetics. The notion of “revitalization” of urban spaces aligns with the adaptation of “cities to the demands and international flows of tourism and urban consumption” (Leite, 2002, p. 115). Social movements have turned to the dispute over urban space, demanding the preservation of buildings, landscapes, and their uses, acting against the interests of the real estate market. For the purposes of this study, we understand heritage as an important element that acts as a structuring component of collective action, becoming incorporated into social movements that claim memory and identity in their strategies of confrontation (Rocha, 2021).

It is worth noting that the notion of urban heritage is relatively recent. This is partly due to its scale, complexity, and the absence of reliable cartographic records. Choay (2001) notes that, until the nineteenth century, descriptions and historical studies of cities only considered their space through monuments and socio-economic structures. The history of urban space should not be confused with that of historical urban heritage and its protection. It is when old structures become an obstacle to the development of new forms of urban spatial organization that they gain conceptual identity, and the notion of historical urban heritage is consolidated in opposition to the dominant urbanization process (ibid.). Thus, historical urban heritage gains prominence during the second half of the twentieth century, emerging as an important field of dispute (ibid.). From that point onward, the preservation of a shared memory is debated – a memory highlighted not only through various types of buildings, but also as cultural practices and uses that act as markers of difference, creating ties to socio-spatial and symbolic territories. In this context, from the 1960s onward in Brazil, the Historical Cities Reconstruction Program (Programa de Reconstrução de Cidades Históricas)³² operationalized the protection of cultural assets located in urban areas to foster lucrative activities such as tourism. Under these circumstances, a romanticized past was promoted, silencing processes of segregation and inequality (Monnet, 1996). Remarkably, the heritage listed in the first half of the twentieth century refers back to the colonial past and sacred Baroque architecture, underscoring the values of religious, slave-owning, and agrarian elites (Diniz and Pacheco, 2020).

Aiming to democratize the concept of heritage and its reach in Brazil, the late 1970s marked the beginning of the recognition of intangible expressions, leading to the replacement of the term "historical and artistic heritage" with "cultural assets". This effort contributed to disseminating the concept of heritage as a measure oriented toward the present rather than a crystallized past (ibid., p. 26). In this sense, historical urban heritage holds the potential to foster organized collective action, particularly when the goal is to defend territories and places. In the case studied here, heritage-making (patrimonialização) is a recursive practice that grounds the actions of the RVV movement, contributing elements to its identity-based and political formation (Rocha, 2021).

We recognize that social movements are embedded in diverse layers of meaning, especially when heritage-making and the struggle for housing intersect, adding territorial and symbolic disputes that unfold within the city. Space is a historical and social product, anchoring social relations and senses of attachment between inhabitant and place (Carlos, 2007).

In the case of VV, the demand for heritage status promotes everyday life and lived space as drivers of distinction, confirming the dimension of memory (both material and symbolic) and ways of life as resources worth preserving. It is in this context that Vila Vicentina gains the status of an "out of the ordinary place", given that its space and surrounding atmospheres were spared from the "common fate" that brought intense high-rise development to the region. This verticalization transformed not only the morphology of surrounding buildings, but also the nature of land use, shifting toward high-end housing, retail, and services. The survival of its cluster of houses reinforces the definition of heritage as assets that embody a historical reality deeply tied to the origins of the present, continually telling and retelling stories (Monnet, 1996) alongside the life trajectories rooted there.

Conclusion

We seek to understand the resources mobilized by social movements in spatial disputes over areas with suitable conditions for decent housing. To this end, we address the strategies used by a group of residents from Vila Vicentina to remain in the Dionísio Torres neighborhood – one of the most valued in Fortaleza – while facing pressures from the real estate market interested in acquiring the land on which it is located.

The analysis required problematizing the categories of "center" and "periphery", given that urban spatial production processes are rife with contradictions that cannot be reduced to spatial layouts alone. For this reason, we chose to analyze the production of centralities and peripheralization, as these processes are not necessarily geographical – much less homogeneous. To be sure, they are connected to the concentration of urban infrastructure and services in areas occupied by wealthier populations, such as the Aldeota and Dionísio Torres neighborhoods, where processes of centrality occurred at the expense of other areas located on the geographical periphery, inhabited by lower-income populations lacking access to decent housing conditions. Such is the case of settlements formed outside urban planning regulations, located in neighborhoods like Bom Jardim, Pici, Pirambu, and Lagamar – which are also mapped as ZEIS (Special Social Interest Zones). However, the case of Vila Vicentina shows that even a settlement established in accordance with urban planning legislation and situated in a neighborhood that forms part of a centrality can undergo a process of peripheralization. Although it was established within a subdivision approved by the Municipal Government and possesses reasonable urban infrastructure, over time it lost community facilities (a school, a clinic, and a dental office), and the residents' land tenure lacks legal security.

The case of VV provided an opportunity to empirically examine the emergence and organization of a collective action that achieved significant political goals: its inclusion in the regulatory process for priority ZEIS in Fortaleza and its historical preservation listing (tombamento), emphasizing the importance of the housing units and the complex as part of the city’s historical heritage. The phenomenon enables an understanding of broader social processes, offering explanatory tools for issues and conflicts involving the urban environment. One such issue concerns the regulation of legal instruments designed to curb real estate speculation and reduce urban segregation, such as ZEIS. In Fortaleza, this process has dragged on for decades, proving to be dependent on movements acting in concert to pressure and demand compliance with urban legislation. Another issue is the manifestation of counter-hegemonic ways of inhabiting the city, especially in neighborhoods considered "high-end". Built in the late 1930s, VV's low-rise morphology and simple structures have, over the years, stood in stark contrast to the surrounding buildings in the neighborhood. The case highlights how dimensions of affection and memory, embedded in ties to place, can serve as a catalyst for organizing collective action. Thus, resorting to heritage-making (patrimonialização) proved to be a valid strategy for protecting and maintaining material and symbolic territories within the city.

When studying social movements, it is pertinent to analyze their origins, formation, internal and external supporters, opponents, and other aspects.

As we have described, at the origin of the Resistência Vila Vicentina movement, some residents surrendered to buyer pressure and negotiated their homes. This measure led to the demolition of sold units through a controversial repossession order (ação de reintegração de posse). This served as the "mobilizing event," which we identify as a landmark for the movement’s formation and organization. The repercussion of this event convened a significant public arena, enabling the RVV to formulate its strategies and lines of action, which were framed around ZEIS regulation (the housing dimension) and historical preservation (the heritage dimension).

Once organized, the RVV adopted exogenous tactics through collaboration with external supporters, as well as endogenous ones, demonstrating its internal organizational and maintenance capacities. The movement combines institutional participation via the ZEIS Management Council – a decision-making body receptive to incorporating local leaders and residents – with networking across movements and collectives that form the Front for the Struggle for Decent Housing (Frente de Luta por Moradia Digna), a relevant non-institutional pressure platform.

The housing dimension, regarding the ZEIS regulation process, has been achieving gains. The participation of resident representatives on the Management Council lent legitimacy to the drafting of the Integrated Land Regularization Plan (Plano Integrado de Regularização Fundiária), which paves the way for legal security of land tenure and mitigates urban deficits. What remains is monitoring its effective implementation.

Regarding the heritage dimension, the historic designation serves as a resource favoring the permanence of the Vila and its residents in a neighborhood occupied by Fortaleza's middle and upper classes. Rather than romanticizing the past and glossing over segregation and inequalities, this action promotes the inclusion of diverse social groups claiming control over and use of space, while simultaneously benefiting from its geographic, economic, and symbolic value. Thus, through collective mobilization, a "periphery" sustains itself within the centrality.

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Notes

• 1
  The analysis is based on qualitative research, completed in 2021 and updated in 2025. Data collection was carried out through participant observation, interviews, questionnaires, and a bibliographical and documentary survey (Rocha, 2021).
• 2
  Throughout the text, Vila Vicentina da Estância will be designated by its initials (VVE, VV), as Vila Vicentina, or simply as Vila.
• 3
  Despite being elevated to the status of a town and capital of Ceará in 1726, and a city in 1823, Fortaleza was, until the mid-19th century, an insignificant location in economic and social terms. Historical studies on the evolution of Fortaleza can be found in Castro (1982), Jucá (2003), and Costa (2017), among others.
• 4
  The units were built gradually. After the donation of the land in 1938, about 15 units were constructed; 20 to 35 throughout the 1940s to the 1970s, reaching a total of 45 units during the 1980s and 1990s. This information, however, lacks precise records, with the constructions and their period being estimated through direct research with residents and consultation of annotations on the property deed (Rocha, 2021).
• 5
  Until the 2022 Census, IBGE referred to favelas and other precarious settlements as “subnormal agglomerations,” a term with a strong stigmatizing bias, which was changed to “favelas and urban communities” in 2023, responding to criticism from social movements and scholars on the topic (IBGE, 2023).
• 6
  It is worth remembering that Vila Vicentina and its construction were the result of donations from members of the philanthropic entity Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, which established certain “rules of coexistence and construction” for the housing, leading us to conclude that self-construction was not the pattern adopted in shaping the residences (Rocha, 2021).
• 7
  The phrase was used by a participant of the Front for the Struggle for Decent Housing (FLMD), which we will discuss later.
• 8
  In 2016, the square meter value in the Dionísio Torres neighborhood was around R$5,000.00.
• 9
  Residents reported that the occupants of the sold houses played loud music late into the night and spoke loudly on the phone, saying they were “pastorando [watching over] houses in Aldeota”.
• 10
  By public arena, it is understood a social space in which its actors define their problems as public and refer to the public interest (Cefaï, 2017).
• 11
  A set of confrontation strategies adopted by social movements, whose prevalence varies across different historical moments (McAdam, Tarrow, and Tilly, 2009). For example, actions such as the destruction of machinery, common in the 19th-century labor movement, have ceased to exist or become residual, unlike strikes and marches, which remain present today. The use of social networks as a mobilization strategy is a typical 21st-century repertoire (Gondim and Rocha, 2019).
• 12
  Direct research (2021).
• 13
  Number obtained through direct research (2021). It is worth emphasizing that the number of movement members is variable, expanding or shrinking. On one hand, undecided residents who were “on the fence” may switch sides depending on the movement's achievements. On the other hand, delays or instabilities in achieving goals can cause members to give up.
• 14
  The VV corresponds to the ZEIS officially designated as ZEIS Dionísio Torres (ZDT).
• 15
  By “patrimonialization”, we understand the process by which an asset, whether tangible or intangible, is considered deserving of protection by public authorities to preserve its integrity and originality. We will return to this issue in the next section.
• 16
  The PDP-For was approved in February 2009, under Complementary Law n. 062/2009. After a six-year delay beyond the legal deadline for review, the new Master Plan was submitted to the City Council on October 29, 2025, and approved in November of the same year.
• 17
  The ZEIS have been a subject of conflict since their inclusion in the PDP-For, marked by disputes fueled by social movements, civil society organizations, real estate market representatives, and the public sector. These difficulties and attempts to implement the ZEIS were the subject of several works (Freitas, 2015; Freitas & Pequeno, 2012; Gondim & Gomes, 2012).
• 18
  In November 2025, ten priority ZEIS in Fortaleza were regulated, including ZEIS Dionísio Torres (ZDT). The measure represented a victory for social movements amidst pressure for regulation and active participation in the drafting process of Fortaleza’s new Participatory and Sustainable Master Plan.
• 19
  The committee prepared diagnoses of the areas, drafted rules for regulating the creation of Management Councils (CGs), provided training for elected council members, set guidelines for drafting Integrated Land Regularization Plans (PIRFs), and established social housing policy for vacant ZEIS. As provided for in Decree n. 13,827, representatives from the public sector, civil society entities, and the designated priority areas participated.
• 20
  Public sector members represent the following bodies: Mayor’s Office; Iplanfor; Municipal Housing Development Secretariat of Fortaleza (Habitafor); Special Coordination for Social Participation (CEPS); Municipal Secretariat of Urbanism and Environment (Seuma); and the Regional Secretariat corresponding to the ZEIS area.
• 21
  The current municipal administration renamed the body, which became IPPLAN – Institute of Research and Planning of Fortaleza. We opted to keep the previous name in the text due to the cited official publications, whose institutional authorship predates the name change.
• 22
  As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the terms of the first elected council members were extended in 2020. New elections only took place in October 2023.
• 23
  The Poço da Draga, Bom Jardim, and Pici ZEIS had their PIRFs conducted by a team from the Federal University of Ceará; the Praia do Futuro, Mucuripe, and Serviluz ZEIS by the University of Fortaleza; and the Moura Brasil, Pirambu, and Lagamar ZEIS by the State University of Ceará.
• 24
  The delay occurred without explanations of the reason from the City Hall, even though requests for clarification were filed via the Management Council and EFTA.
• 25
  Shortly after the demolitions, the Vila received three concurrent landmark status requests, submitted by two city councilors and an architect/university professor.
• 26
  The law requires additional information beyond the justification of the request, such as the property's address, location, photographs, etc.
• 27
  Heritage listing can be carried out by the three levels of public administration. At the Federal level, it falls under the responsibility of the Institute of National Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN); regarding the State and Municipal levels, it is carried out by their respective bodies. In Ceará, state heritage listing is managed by the State Secretariat of Culture (Secult) through the State Council for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage of the State of Ceará (COEPA). At the municipal level, it is managed by the Municipal Secretariat of Culture of Fortaleza (Secultfor).
• 28
  Secultfor’s delay in forwarding provisional heritage listing processes has caused damage to other provisionally listed assets, as the lack of protection guidelines compromises their preservation. Fortaleza has 54 provisionally listed properties awaiting a final decision. Some have been in this situation for over ten years (Nascimento, 2019).
• 29
  Representing the public sector on the Council: a member of the Municipal Secretariat of Culture, as president; a member of the Historical-Cultural Heritage department of Secultfor, as coordinator; the Municipal Secretariat of Urbanism and Environment; the Institute of National Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN); representatives of the Municipal Chamber of Fortaleza (CMF), the Attorney General’s Office of the Municipality (PGM), the Secretariat of Culture of the State of Ceará (Secult), the State Secretariat of Tourism (Setur), and the Municipal Secretariat of Tourism of Fortaleza (Setfor). Representing civil society entities: the Historical, Geographical, and Anthropological Institute of Ceará (IHGAC); the Federal University of Ceará (UFC); the University of Fortaleza (Unifor); the State University of Ceará (UECE); a representative of the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB-CE); the Association of Brazilian Geographers (AGB-CE); the National Association of University History Professionals (ANPUH-CE); and the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB-CE).
• 30
  RVV actions in this direction included: hanging banners, painting walls and fences in the Vila with the expression “The Vila is historical heritage,” holding zine workshops on the history of the place and its residents, and conducting public classes on heritage mediated by university professors.
• 31
  Heritage listing does not interfere with property ownership, as it does not aim to expropriate the property, leaving the burden of preservation and maintenance to the owner.
• 32
  On this matter, see Fonseca (2017).
• Data availability statement:
  The entire dataset supporting the results of this study has been made available in the UFC Institutional Repository and can be accessed at http://repositorio.ufc.br/handle/riufc/61386. The entire dataset supporting the results of this study was published in the article itself.

Edited by

• Editors:
  Lucia Bógus
  Luiz César de Queiroz Ribeiro

Data availability

The entire dataset supporting the results of this study has been made available in the UFC Institutional Repository and can be accessed at http://repositorio.ufc.br/handle/riufc/61386. The entire dataset supporting the results of this study was published in the article itself.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  28 Aug 2026
• Date of issue
  Sep-Dec 2026

History

• Received
  14 Nov 2025
• Accepted
  15 Apr 2026