Modernização e planejamento na Amazônia: O caso da região de Carajás (Modernization and planning in the Amazon: The case of the Carajás region) In: <b>ENCONTRO NACIONAL DA ANPUR</b>, 26, maio, 2023, Belém. <i>Anais</i> [...]. Belo Horizonte: ANPUR, 2023. p. 1-7. ISSN 1984-8781.
Creators: name: Monteiro, Maurilio
name: LIMA, JOSÉ JÚLIO FERREIRA
name: Miranda, Humberto
name: Neves, Fernando de Freitas
name: Carneiro, Marcelo Sampaio
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2025
Subjects: classificationCode: 440499
subject: Development studies not elsewhere classified

description: This is a comprehensive summary of a pivotal 'Free Session' held at the 20th National Meeting of the National Association of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Urban and Regional Planning (ENANPUR). The session, a significant event in the field, delved into the complex issues of modernization and planning in the Amazon, with a specific focus on the Carajás region. It brought to light the social, economic, and environmental impacts of attempts at modernization driven by regional and urban planning, providing valuable insights for all those interested in these crucial areas.Mercantile production in the Amazon expanded significantly, especially in Carajás, where a primary export economy based on mining and agriculture was consolidated. Modernization policies that sought to integrate the region into global standards drove this dynamic, resulting in profound transformations, contradictions, and inequalities.Regional planning in the Carajás region was marked by authoritarian interventions, particularly during the military governments. These interventions facilitated the entry of significant capital, primarily from multinational corporations and government investments, and established land control, often at the expense of the rights of indigenous and traditional populations. Although accelerated economic growth, supported by commodity exports, has been significant, promises of reducing social inequalities and achieving a uniform modernity have not been fulfilled. On the contrary, disparities have widened, while the region's production bases have followed socially and environmentally harmful patterns.The region's urbanization was marked by sharp population growth, with the urban population jumping from approximately 27,000 people in 1970 to more than 1 million in 2021. However, this process occurred under a mercantilist logic that prioritized land appreciation, relegating urban planning that would guarantee the right to the city. As a result, the poorest populations were the most affected, while the organization of urban space mainly served real estate and market interests.Despite the overwhelming influence of capitalist modernity, the region is also a hotbed of resistance. Territories such as settlements and indigenous lands have emerged as bastions of alternative practices of productive, sociocultural, and political organization. These movements, which challenge the homogenization imposed by modernization, should inspire hope and optimism. Furthermore, the region presents unique features, such as the expansion of the religious field in the political sphere, especially by conservative neo-Pentecostal denominations, which oppose the secularization envisaged by the modernizing ideology.The environmental and economic impacts of modernization in the Carajás region are significant. Amazonian biodiversity has been simplified and commodified to meet production demands. An emblematic example is steel production based on charcoal originating from the forest. These practices reveal a utilitarian vision that ignores ecological complexities and adopts unsustainable dynamics, worsening environmental and social degradation.Despite the unfulfilled promises of modernization, the text underscores the pressing need for strategies that harmonize economic efficiency, social equity, and ecological sustainability. This emphasis on the potential for positive change should inspire hope and optimism, as it highlights the possibility of understanding regional dynamics in depth and building institutions capable of promoting integrated social interventions aligned with sustainable development perspectives.