As novas formas e os novos conteúdos da segregação socioespacial: a produção de um enclave urbano planejado em Mossoró/RN no século XXI

Abstract

The production of urban space in contemporary cities has been marked by the interplay between the imperatives of the capitalist logic of accumulation, the rise of neoliberal policies, and the institutional reconfiguration of the State. This structuring triad has intensified the processes of inequality and socio-spatial segregation in various urban formations within the context of capitalist urbanization. Considering the reality of medium-sized Brazilian cities, this thesis analyzes the production of the Urban Expansion and Real Estate Valorization Sector (SEUVI), located in the city of Mossoró, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, throughout the 21st century. Situated in the northwestern portion of the municipality, this new expansion front concentrates the implementation of gated residential spaces, tertiary-sector establishments, and private institutions aimed at upper social strata. This research questions the relationships established between the interests of economic agents and the actions of the municipal government in structuring this new urban expansion area, seeking to understand how the production of built space reinforces the process of socio-spatial segregation in Mossoró. The thesis argues that the city’s urban structure has undergone a profound redefinition resulting from the pact between public and private agents, whose actions have shaped a planned urban enclave as an expression of a political-economic project for the (re)production of socio-spatial segregation. The planning of a new location within Mossoró’s intra-urban space, linked to the production of new urban habitats and private collective consumption spaces, reveals, on the one hand, the segregationist logic guiding the urbanization of this sector, and, on the other, the profitable nature of real estate valorization as a vector of capitalist accumulation, mediated by state action. Thus, the research aims to understand the production process of the SEUVI, highlighting the strategies of the agents involved and the nature of the real estate developments implemented, especially concerning land structure transformation and property valorization. Methodologically, the study was developed in four stages: i) bibliographical research on the themes and concepts addressed; ii) documentary survey at the Mossoró Sixth Notary Office, in municipal cartographic databases (2006, 2012, 2017, and 2023), and in the Conceptual Master Plan – Zoning (2019), as well as consultation of websites of developers and construction companies, internal regulations of gated residential spaces, and data from IBGE and SIGEF; iii) fieldwork, including interviews with residents and real estate promoters, aerial captures by drone, and photographic records in loco (2023 and 2025); and iv) data systematization and analysis through maps, charts, and tables. These elements enabled the analysis of the sector’s production process and, consequently, the confirmation of the stated thesis. It is argued that, from the mid-2000s onward, a profound transformation began in the urban structure of Mossoró, driven by a modernist-oriented urban plan and aligned with land and real estate interests. This coalition between Market and State consolidated itself as a project of land and real estate valorization, sustained by the selective and unequal production of urban space, deepening socio-spatial inequalities and steering the city’s recent expansion toward an exclusionary and segregating territorial model.