A participação popular e social: Uma análise sob a perspectiva do planejamento urbano em Palmas - TO (Brasil)

Abstract

The urban development of Palmas, Tocantins, has historically been marked by the fragility of access to land and socio-spatial segregation, problems resulting from a speculative logic that formal planning cannot reverse. Academically, the gap in understanding the power dynamics that shape the territory and the absence of analyses of alternatives that emerge from society itself persist. In this context, this thesis aims to investigate the potential of an urban know-how built from the ground up, focusing on practices of resistance and proposition as a counterpoint to hegemonic planning. The overall objective of the research is to investigate the role and dynamics of social participation in the urban planning of Palmas, through its formal and non- formal institutional channels, concentrating on the comparison of participation processes in the revision of the Participatory Master Plan (2016-2018) and in the construction of the Popular Agenda for the Right to the City (2024), conceptually guided by Neighborhood Plans, to identify the scope and limitations of the democratization of urban management. This research raises the following question: how can the application of a Popular Agenda for the Right to the City, guided by neighborhood plans, transform urban development in Palmas, strengthening democratic management to make the Master Plan effective? The hypothesis is that the emergence of qualified participation, through community-based territorial planning, can reverse the cycle of ineffectiveness of formal planning. To test this hypothesis, the qualitative research, structured as a case study, used Sherry Arnstein's Ladder of Participation as an analytical framework to evaluate the effectiveness of participation in both spheres. Specific objectives included the analysis of social participation, the contextualization of the urbanization process, the evaluation of the revision of the Participatory Master Plan, and the empirical verification of the implications of the Popular Agenda. The results confirmed the central hypothesis that: participation in the formal institutional sphere proved to be merely protocol-driven, situated at the lower rungs of Arnstein's ladder (manipulation and consultation), while, in the non-formal institutional aspect, the analysis of the Popular Agenda demonstrated an engagement that reaches the higher rungs of citizen power, characterizing an effective partnership and delegated power, moving towards social control. This direct comparison shows that apathy is not a societal issue, but a consequence of inadequate formal channels. The thesis's contribution materializes in the proposition of tools for social and political transformation, empirically validating Neighborhood Plans as a key instrument to overcome the dissociation between the legal city and the real city. To this end, in addition to this thesis, the contributions culminate in the delivery of a draft bill to institutionalize Neighborhood Plans and an e-book guide (Neighborhood Plan in Action) to foster community organization and the optimization of local urban policy.