THE LAGOAS DO NORTE PROGRAM IN TERESINA/PI: URBAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL REQUALIFICATION OR COMMODIFICATION OF THE CITY?

This article aims to analyze the Lagoas do Norte Program in Teresina/PI, based on the relationship between the discourse of sustainable urban development and the interests of urban projects in the commodification of the city. It is, therefore, an urban project of the Municipality of Teresina/PI, started in the mid-2000s, in partnership with the World Bank, with the purpose of promoting the urban and environmental requalification of neighborhoods in the northern zone of the capital of Piauí, articulating urban interventions in drainage, sanitation, housing, mobility and leisure, under the discourse of urban sustainability. In this study, bibliographic research, documentary analysis and the search for information in the portals of electronic newspapers and websites of the Municipality of Teresina were used. It sought to present the discussions on the new urban issue of strategic planning in large urban projects, the Lagoas do Norte Program in Teresina/PI, the production of the city for the market under the argument of sustainable urban development. The results indicate that the Program allows us to understand how the discourse of sustainable urban development can be instrumentalized to legitimize urban restructuring policies aimed at real estate appreciation and the insertion of the city in global market dynamics. Although it has brought urban and environmental improvements, the program has also exposed vulnerable populations to processes of exclusion and displacement, reproducing socio-spatial inequalities.