City Transformation and Social Disintegration: The Impact of Urban Growth on Neighborhoods

The Brazilian Amazon, a vast and rich region, has undergone significant transformations over the centuries. One of the most comprehensive studies on this topic is the Brazilian Amazon Atlas, published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

Before Portuguese colonization, human settlements in the Amazon were small and closely located, connected by rivers and land routes. These dispersed regional formations, including villages and communities, acted as microclimate regulators and providers of ecosystem services and food.

Indigenous villages were often incorporated into religious missions, which later influenced the territorial organization of settlements. The Pombaline government, adopting urbanization as a colonization strategy, established towns and cities on the sites of former missions, replacing Indigenous place names with Portuguese ones.

Certain forest products had commercial value, justifying economic cycles based on their export to Europe. Colonizers relied on the extraction of ready-made forest products, learning from Indigenous peoples how to collect and consume these resources.

The transformation of the forest into a rural area in the 20th century was driven by agrarian reform and major development works, displacing native populations to the outskirts of cities. This trend continues today, with the lack of understanding leading to the dismantling and replacement of these regional formations by cities that are losing vegetation cover both internally and externally.

Along the channels of large rivers, villages and communities preserve the legacy of pre-colonial urbanization while continuing to supply cities with food. However, gradually, native populations are being allowed to fill in floodplains, enabling high-cost macro-drainage systems to make these areas commercially viable. This could potentially lead to the loss of resilience and adaptability to contemporary crises, particularly climate crises.

Cities such as Manaus, Macapá, and Belém have populations that are significantly higher than their respective state averages. Manaus and Macapá concentrate 60% and 30% of their state populations, respectively. In 2022, there was a population increase on the islands, areas structured around villages and communities, in the city of Belém. However, Belém experiences population loss to its metropolitan surroundings.

In cities like Santarém, conflicts between native interests and commodity producers indicate that the same groups control both urban transformation and changes in so-called rural spaces. The city was perceived as the embodiment of urbanization, the space where new urban planning techniques should be applied, due to widespread deforestation and the redefinition of the forest as a rural space.

Extensive occupation, a beneficial practice for the market, degrades ecosystems by incorporating native territories and dispossessing communities of their means of production, driving them into poverty. On the other hand, the Indigenous population in Manaus is growing.

In conclusion, the evolution of human settlements in the Amazon has been marked by a complex interplay of factors, including colonization, economic cycles, urbanization, and deforestation. Understanding this history is crucial for developing sustainable strategies for the future of this vital region.