O Papel do turismo no desenvolvimento urbano: análise discursiva do Plano Diretor de Natal/RN

Abstract

This research aimed to study the role of tourism in the urban development of the city of Natal - RN, through the understanding of urban policy, specifically the Master Plan instrument that represents the democratic and participatory process of constitution of norms that seeks to organize the functioning of the city. Given the importance of power relations that transform the legally instituted process of popular participation in the frequent review of tourist city master plans into a mere formality to legitimize business interests in Brazil, and given the harmfulness of the outcome of this process in the lives of city residents, this research aims to answer the following question: how is the dynamics of the discourses of tourism and urban development in the political arena of the process of revision of the master plan of Natal - RN? Given this, the objective is to identify and analyze the discourses of tourism and urban development that compete in the political arena of the revision of the Natal Master Plan. The methodology used followed a qualitative approach, using as strategy the single case study focusing on the discussions of the East Zone of the city. Data collection took place through bibliographic analysis, semi-structured interviews with actors involved in the review process and non-participant observation of the review workshops of the Natal Master Plan.The technique of analysis of the collected data occurred through Foucaultian discourse analysis, trying to understand the power relations in the political arena, using the “Conceptual Framework for Competing Rationalities Approach”, in order to structure the analysis, which reveals the influence of tourism development discourses in the process of competition and legitimation of urban political actions. The case study made it possible to portray in detail the occurrence of a part of the methodology used in the review and the micropolitics in action, acting in favor of their interests in the decision making that results in the urban development of the city. Two discursive narratives were identified: the first one refers to the economist discourse that defends urban political actions over capital. Using the ambiguity of the meaning of sustainable development to legitimize economic interests. In this narrative tourism is used as a reason for increasing wealth and expanding income. The second narrative is the discourse that demonstrates the importance of popular participation in decision making. The inclusion of the citizen in this process proposes political alternatives to market rationality through socio- educational work and reaching human emancipation. In this perspective, tourism is a means to reach human potential, enabling transformation in urban development. Thus, it can be concluded that the city needs to be planned in favor of the citizen, where the economic dimension of tourism becomes only part of its role in the cities, and can be used to promote the exercise of citizenship, contributing to the planning of city development.