(IN)justiça espacial e a construção social de problemas: o caso da rua Direita, Três Rios – RJ

Abstract

Três Rios is a municipality in the central-southern region of Rio de Janeiro state, which is considered strategically located by several authors due to its extensive road and rail junction. Starting from 2005, the municipality entered a phase of intense industrialization, attracting various enterprises through tax exemptions. These measures brought about a scenario of economic growth to the municipality, but they might have also generated social, spatial, and environmental consequences. Therefore, the aim of this work was to assess how the community living in the Rua Direita neighborhood in Três Rios municipality socially constructs the environmental problems it is exposed to and how it interprets the spatiality of these issues. The methodological basis used was the concept of Social Construction of Environmental Problems. The concept was employed to identify the environmental problems collectively recognized by the population, their demands, and how the residents organize themselves to demand these improvements from the government. The Rua Direita neighborhood is situated in the periphery of Três Rios and encompasses the former municipal landfill, the new sanitary landfill, and various industrial enterprises. Data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews using the snowball sampling technique, where the key informant would suggest the next person to be interviewed, and so forth. The theoretical framework of the study involved the development of concepts such as spatial injustice, environmental injustice, socio-spatial segregation, the right to the city, and the formation of sacrifice zones. Twelve residents of the neighborhood were interviewed, delving into the neighborhood's infrastructure issues. Through the interviews, the absence of the government in urban infrastructure matters was evident, highlighting the center-periphery relationship. The sanitary landfill was identified as the main environmental problem in the neighborhood. The locational decision to implement the landfill in an area already exposed to the environmental impacts of the former municipal landfill and industrial enterprises indicates that the Rua Direita neighborhood is a sacrifice zone in Três Rios municipality. Thus, the sanitary landfill emerges as a promoter of spatial injustice with the complicity of the government.