Analysis of urban expansion in the Southern Area of Ilhéus and the beach balneability conditions

fragilities and potentialities

Abstract

The city of Ilhéus has been undergoing an accelerated urbanization process in the last years, and today it is especially highlighted the southern zone, which can make the beach areas more fragile and vulnerable to the environment. In this context, the issue of altering the landscape and the implications of these interferences are important, as the city is based on the coastal plain, a naturally fragile environment that denotes restrictions of use. And, therefore, it is also evident the need for studies aimed at bathing beaches, mainly because they involve public health issues and, sometimes, environmental and economic, mainly tourism-related issues. The objective of this research was to analyze the fragilities and potentialities of the South zone in the city of Ilhéus-BA. In this perspective, we sought to understand the accelerated urbanization of this area, especially in the last two decades and the alterations resulting from different uses of the soil, whose physical characteristics also differ, as well as the bathing conditions of the beaches. Such concerns widen as Ilhéus tries to establish itself as a tourist town, whose scenic beauty in the southern zone, for example, fosters this expectation, which, however, in the absence of adequate planning, tourism can add to the harmful impacts in the middle, even in such a way as to render such activities unfeasible.