The planning of urban sprawl in the interface with the scattered urbanization: an analysis of the metropolitan area of Campinas (1970-2006)

Abstract

The Metropolitan Area of Campinas, situated in the southeast quadrant of the state of São Paulo, has a specific territorial configuration described by the literature as a typical case of the so-called sprawling urbanization. To provide evidence of this process and verify how the municipalities have dealt with this phenomenon, this paper focused on the legal and planning apparatus instituted between 1970 and 2006. The method featured by quantitative and analytic procedures was based on a research of the master plans and the urban legislation followed by the systematization of provisions related to the urban sprawl issue, analyzing the relationship between the settled guidelines and the legal self-regulatory arrangements. The results showed that the guidelines were not as effective as expected regarding the planning of urban sprawl, mainly in the 1970s and 1980s when the process of urbanization was intensified and the actions of public authorities were more incremental. Although the municipalities maintained ambiguous procedures over the transformation from rural to urban areas, it was possible to perceive a sensible change in the legal arrangements, mainly since the 1990s when the laws on alteration of urban perimeters were reduced and environmental provisions increased, which may have contributed to curb the dispersion process.

Keywords:
Urban sprawl; Urbanization; Urban legislation; Metropolitan area of Campinas