The influence of housing public policies on urban expansion:

study of Residential Jacinta Andrade, Teresina, Piauí

Abstract

The urbanization process in Brazil, just like in most of other developing countries, happened fast and disordely, creating various urban problems that exist until nowadays, among which, it is highlighted the emergence of the housing problem. On the other hand, the solutions proposed by the State in answer to this question, specially the production of social housing projects in periferic regions generated a new challenge, the socio spatial segregation. Thus, through this article, it is sought to analyze how the housing public policies, adopted in Teresina, contributed to the territorial growth, as to the urban landscape transformation. This paper has been divided into three stages: a historical review of the Statal intervention at the production of social housing in Brasil, particurlarly in Teresina; a compartion between the construction of this new housing unities and the urban growth axis of the city, between 1960 and nowadays; and, then, an analysis of the urban morphology of the Jacinta Andrade Residential, being it one of the largest real estate developments produced by the Growth Acceleration Program (GAP). At last, it was found that the construction of social housing projects was, and stil is, an important inductor of urban growth in the city of Teresina. However, it is perceived that this process contributes for a disordely growth, creating regions precarious in infrastructure, far away from the central zones and that offer low life quality to its inhabitants. When taking the Jacinta Andrade Residential as a case study, among the social housing projects existing in Teresina, it was possible to observe the urban morphology that has been reproduced in the city territory as so the many failures involved in the current pattern of social housing production.