Natal Condomínio Clube : inovação espacial nos eixos de valorização da zona sul da cidade

Abstract

This dissertation is about new real estate development in the southward expansion area in Natal, Brazil, by use of high-rise condos, so-called club-condominiums. The area includes part of the neighboring municipality, Parnamirim, and focuses on the role played by urban developers in the housing market. The main feature in these condos are common areas filled with leisure equipments, allegedly to grant quality of life, comfort and tranquility to residents. The rapid development of the area takes advantage of large plots of land available as well as of urban infrastructure. Overall preference of middle-class sectors for the South area of Natal (and adjoining part of Parnamirim) is also a factor worth of note. For this reason, this part of the city constitutes one of the preferred areas of urban developers. This dissertation includes a discussion of Henri Lefebvre s production of space, emphasizing its tridimensional features. It draws on David Harvey s works to deal with transformations of the built environment regarding the dynamics of real estate markets; in particular, it considers the idea of creative destruction. Finally, the dissertation discusses the concepts developed by Pedro Abramo regarding the forms of operation by urban entrepreneurs, in particular the concepts of urban convention and spatial innovation. For the empirical work, a number of interviews with key entrepreneurs and civil servants were undertaken. In more general terms, it is worth observing that there is a direct relationship between the location of such developments and the process of spatial fragmentation, seen both as a consequence and a strategy of the way urban developers operate