Sustainable Urban Planning in Santos, Brazil

In Santos, Brazil, public and private sector workers, professionals, academics, and poor members of society are sharing ideas to ensure that the future of this coastal city unfolds from a foundation of sustainable planning.

Located on the coast about 75 km from São Paulo, Santos provides the gateway to this industrialized region of 16 million residents. The Port of Santos, which employs some 40,000 people, is strategically important for the entire country. It harbours over 300 ships each month. More than 30 million tonnes of cargo such as coffee, sugar, beef, and soya pass over its docks each year.

Like the rest of Brazil, Santos endured for many years restrictions of civil rights, economic crises, and environmental degradation under the rule of a series of military regimes. In 1985, the country's new civilian administration drafted a federal constitution, enacted in 1988, that greatly increased the authority and responsibility of local and municipal administrations.

CITIZEN COUNCILS

Under the direction of the Workers Party (PT), the Municipality of Santos set out to involve all levels of the community in creating and implementing policy and programs to improve environmental, economic, and social conditions. To ensure broad community participation, the city council encouraged the formation of "citizens councils for public participation." Some councils, such as those concerned with health, housing, social assistance, and child welfare, were conceived by federal laws. Others, such as those responsible for education, heritage, the elderly, and the physically challenged, were formed through a process of municipal conferences.

With these structures in place, the Municipality of Santos was invited by the Toronto-based International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) to take part in the Local Agenda 21 Model Communities Program (MCP).

ICLEI PROJECT

The ICLEI project in Santos is coordinated by the municipality's Environmental Secretariat, under the direction of the mayor. The local MCP coordinator, Siomara Gonzalez Gomes, works in a project team of about a dozen people. The project's local launch was a large public conference to present the Local Agenda 21 planning approach to the community. Some 70 organizations participated, representing NGOs, unions, business interests, citizens councils, municipal departments, disabled people, and housing cooperatives, among others. Through this process, all Agenda 21 issues were examined that had some impact on Santos and where the municipality exercised jurisdiction, says Prabha Khosla, ICLEI's field manager for the MCP.

PLANNING PRIORITIES

Eventually, the strategic services planning process led to choosing nine priorities for Santos: employment generation, income and education; natural resources and environmental sanitation; housing; health and education; transport; violence and security; tourism and leisure; citizenship; and master plan formulation.

Seminars bring together organizations and individuals interested in each of the nine topics to share information, create action plans, and identify resources for the realization of projects. In recent months, the nine priorities have been further narrowed to three: the quality of beaches and tourism, solid waste management, and the environment of the hills of the city.

DENSE POPULATION

Although Santos spans a total area of about 474 square km, more than 400,000 residents (about 95%) live on the small island of São Vicente, which comprises less than 10% of the city area. The population density is high on the island. The remaining 5% of residents live on the mainland.

Santos is relatively rich by Brazilian standards. With a per capita income of $3,000, unemployment levels are well below the regional average. Although its industrial base is small, tourism is big business -- accounting for about two-thirds of the economy.

POLLUTION PROBLEMS

At one time, however, Santos suffered a deep economic recession when polluted coastal waters damaged prospects for the tourism industry. An overburdened and complicated system of stormwater drainage canals was carrying raw sewage to the ocean. Tourism slumped as tourists deserted the unhealthy city beaches for alternatives to the south and north.

Recognizing that this grave problem could only be resolved through cooperative efforts between local and state governments, the municipality initiated the Santos Beaches Recovery Program in 1991. In its first phase, the program involved diverting contaminated water from the canals to a sewage treatment plant. A second phase, which relied upon assistance from engineering students at a local university, consisted of re-routing 10,000 unauthorized sewage connections to the main drainage system. By 1993, the Santos beaches were clean once again and tourism began to recover.

TOURIST DESTINATION

Urban beaches and a lively nightlife are major attractions for the millions of tourists who visit Santos each year. The population density doubles during the summer months (December to March) and can triple or quadruple on weekends. Balancing the needs of tourists against those of retired and elderly residents is among the more delicate and time-consuming tasks of town council staff, according to Siomara Gomes, MCP coordinator.

The greater Santos area also has tremendous potential for ecological tourism. Together, the town council, the Department of Environment, and various tourist agencies are developing ecotourism activities in the surrounding mangroves and Atlantic rainforest. Local merchants often pay the salaries of tourism coordinators trained by town council staff.

BETTER HOUSING

Another important program initiated by the Municipality of Santos has been the Dique Project, says Gomes. Many poor families have been living in communities of dilapidated huts built on stilts over the water. These "favelas" are now being replaced with two-storey houses that can be purchased by their new occupants. By generating roughly 250 jobs and improving living standards for residents, this project has fostered hope and fellowship as residents plan and build their own homes.

Currently, ordinary rubbish in Santos is dumped at a municipal site in a mangrove swamp on the island, and covered with sand each day. Eventually, waste will be taken to a disused stone quarry on the mainland. In conjunction with a large army of independent waste collectors, cans, bottles, plastic, and paper are collected weekly by the council and recycled.

SOCIAL SERVICES

In recent years, Santos' social services have improved. Better health services have yielded 23 free municipal health clinics, which draw patients from surrounding municipalities. The Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents is concerned with the welfare of abandoned children. By providing shelter, training, and some employment, Santos has done more for this particularly underprivileged group than most other cities in Brazil. In fact, authorities in neighbouring towns with less resources often send abandoned children to Santos.

Although Santos' Agenda 21 achievements have been recognized by the central government of Brazil, national publicity for these initiatives is limited. Santos' single local newspaper remains hostile toward the town's administration and no national publications exist to cover such achievements. However, efforts are being made to spread news about the initiatives undertaken by the Municipality of Santos through the Internet. For more information on Santos and Local Agenda 21, the Internet site is: http://www.iclei.org/csdcases/santos.html

Patrick Knight is a journalist based in Sao Paulo.

RESOURCE PERSON:

Siomara Gonzalez Gomes, MCP Coordinator, Secretaria do Medio Ambiente, Prefeitura Municipal de Santos, Praca dos Expedicionarios 10-6, andar, Santos, Brazil; Tel: 55 132 323707;Fax: 55 132 355684; e-mail: Prodesane@ax.ibase.org.br

Links to explore...

Related IDRC Reports articles:

Global action on local Agenda 21 Selected municipalities throughout the world test a new approach to urban planning that focuses on sustainable development.

Environment, society, and economy: policies working together Governments and institutions must address the issues surrounding the integration of environmental, social and economic policies if development is to succeed.

Integration: a skeptic's view David Brooks discusses the problems with using integration as an analytical tool for policy development.

Community participation in planning for Jinja, Uganda A city in Uganda's heartland lays the groundwork to solve its environmental problems.

Additional resources:

List of model communities involved in Local Agenda 21 Initiative

Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide

Local Agenda 21 Internet site

Unless otherwise stated, all articles and photos may be freely reproduced providing suitable credit is given.

ISSN 0315-9981. This magazine is listed in the Canadian Magazine Index.

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