Ordenamento territorial, urbano e cidade: a produção do espaço na cidade de Xai-Xai (Moçambique)

Abstract

Urbanization is a process that consolidates over time as a result of the interaction be-tween different actors responsible for its formation. In Mozambique, urban spaces in the Euro-pean model were established around the year 1505 due to the colonizers' need to exploit re-sources, initially forming the so-called "factory cities." In the following period, capitalist struc-tures were introduced in areas of direct and indirect administration, extending until independ-ence in 1975. With independence, a dual city was inherited—on one side, the "cement city" for whites, and on the other, the "reed city" for blacks. It was expected that independence would end this segregation; however, it merely transitioned from racial segregation to one based on social class. The privileged occupied the cement city, while the lower-income population re-mained in the periphery without infrastructure or basic services. This condition worsened in the 1980s and 1990s due to rural exodus driven by the civil war and the search for opportunities. This expansion was not accompanied by public policies capable of creating favorable condi-tions for the poorer residents of the "reed city." The territorial planning implemented retained remnants of colonial policies. The city of Xai-Xai, our study area, was not exempt from this process, and in recent years, displacements have been recorded due to flooding. Therefore, our objective is to understand the production of urban space in Xai-Xai, considering the urban pro-cesses that occurred on a national scale. Based on the idea that the city results from the produc-tion and reproduction of social relations, our approach considers the territorial planning pro-moted by the State and its impacts on capitalist enterprises that have arrived since 1987. Re-garding methodology, primary and secondary data were collected through direct observation, indirect observation using Landsat 7 satellite images, georeferencing of infrastructure, docu-mentary research, and interviews. These data reveal that the production of urban space in Xai-Xai reflects historical and contemporary dynamics marked by socioeconomic inequalities, so-cio-spatial selectivity, capitalist interests, and the inefficiency of public policies, perpetuating challenges related to inclusion, infrastructure, and quality of life for most of the population.