As Cidades-Esponja e a demanda pelo desenvolvimento resiliente em Manhuaçu: proposta de diretrizes para áreas consolidadas

Abstract

The demand for more sustainable and resilient forms of development constitutes a global paradigm today, both in urban and natural environments. The integration of these two dimensions, incorporating nature-based solutions into urban development, has been shown to improve environmental and living conditions, while also mitigating several existing environmental hazards. Within this perspective, the concept of the Sponge City emerged in China, drawing inspiration from natural processes to enhance water absorption and purification, safeguard water bodies, and promote measures that increase permeability. These strategies contrast with conventional “grey” solutions, such as canalization and asphalt paving, thereby reducing impacts and risks associated with flooding. Floods, which are frequent in Brazil and many other countries, exemplify such disasters. They result from intense rainfall events and are often exacerbated by unsustainable land-use practices. Historically, numerous cities developed around water bodies, leading to significant alterations in the landscape. In many cases, unplanned and rapid infrastructural expansion generated severe problems. An illustrative example is the city of Manhuaçu, which expanded along the banks of the river of the same name. In this context, the present exploratory study has the general objective of developing a Proposal of Guidelines for the adoption of “sponge” strategies in Manhuaçu, identifying possibilities and challenges and carrying out the necessary adaptations to the city’s specificities. To this end, the methodology is structured through a bibliographic and documentary research design, with key pillars including a historical analysis of Manhuaçu’s urban growth based on scientific materials, data, and reports, and an adapted systematic literature review of global applications of Sponge Cities. This review identified a predominance of bibliographic sources from China (posing a limitation in interpreting data in different contexts), but also a gradual expansion to other countries and continents, demonstrating the diffusion and relevance of the concept. In the case of Brazil, this can be evidenced by the emergence of Laws and Bills addressing the topic. Based on these findings and critical analyses, it was possible to identify convergences and divergences and to propose the necessary Guidelines and adaptations for Manhuaçu, considering that it is mostly a consolidated urban area. For the municipality, the results pointed to partial possibilities for adoption, with one of the outputs being a Framework that synthesizes these guidelines for stakeholders, including strategic aspects and recommendations for locations within the urban and regional network. Finally, it can be concluded that this type of nature-based solution has the potential to be replicated in a context-compatible manner in other settings, thereby justifying efforts to promote it in Brazil.