Public property and social function: the destination of union lands in the Porto Maravilha Urban Operation

Abstract

The central argument of the work is that the definition of the social function of property is inherently contradictory and conflictive and can serve both real estate market agents and the grassroots classes. The State seeks to manage this conflict by means of selective mechanisms that define, in each situation, its content and outcome. Thus, it targets the destination of the public land owned by federal government in the region of Porto Maravilha Urban Consortium Operation. In this case, this study aims to show that this conflict was sorted out in favor of the real estate market, which implied the temporary suspension of the rent seeking rationale that marks the action of the Union's Patrimony Secretariat - SPU, and enabled the financial model of the urban operation, resulting in privatization of public lands in the port area. At the same time, the prevalence of the Social destination of public land rationale was not able to make viable projects for Social Housing. Nevertheless, privatization of public land has not yet been able to leverage the interest of the real estate market in the region and the future of the Porto Maravilha Project remains uncertain.

Keywords:
Social function of property; Federal land ownership; Public lands; Porto Maravilha