A atuação do Programa Minha Casa, Minha Vida na produção do espaço urbano: nas franjas do setor oeste de Uberlândia - MG

Abstract

This Master’s degree dissertation addresses the production of urban space through housing policy, examining the implementation of the “Programa Minha Casa, Minha Vida” on the borders of the west sector of Uberlândia and investigating how the program’s implementation contributes to the reproduction of sociospatial inequalities and to the consolidation of specific patterns of urban expansion. Its central objective is to analyze the factors that determined the western sector of the city as the primary vector of urban expansion for the implementation of social housing within the municipality. To this end, it adopts a qualitative approach grounded in theoretical review on capitalist urbanization and social housing, documentary and normative analysis, collection and interpretation of secondary data, as well as cartographic and spatial examination of the housing developments under study. The results demonstrate that the implementation of the program in the city not only responds to housing demands but is primarily articulated with land and real estate interests that guide the peripheral location of developments. The analysis shows that the territorial distribution of housing units occurs in areas distant from urban facilities and infrastructure, increasing the social costs of mobility and reinforcing processes of segregation. It also identifies a mismatch between the existence of vacant properties and the persistence of the housing deficit, indicating structural limits of the policy as an instrument for addressing the housing issue. By examining urban planning instruments and their concrete application, the study reveals low regulatory effectiveness in the face of land valorization dynamics and the political-economic networks that induce locational decisions. The conclusion is that the program acts as an active agent in the production of urban space, contributing to peripheral expansion and to reproduce inequalities, while reaffirming the centrality of the market in guiding housing policy. The dissertation thus offers a critical reading of the articulation between state, market, and territory, inviting reflection on the limits and possibilities of public housing policies in confronting contemporary urban contradictions.