Urban community facilities in areas liable to flooding in Curitiba (Paraná): social and political conflicts

Abstract

Public authorities are supposed to decide on the installation of urban community facilities through land-use planning. However, rapid population growth coupled with the lack of city planning does not allow these demands to be adequately met. A poorly assessed problem results in a failure to respond to disasters. One example is in Curitiba, where many urban facilities, such as health units and schools, are located in areas affected by floods. The purpose of this article is to highlight and evaluate situations of social and political conflict involved in the problem. The methodology is based on the examination of laws, official documents, maps and reports on the occurrence of civil defence incidents. It was concluded that in addition to making communities vulnerable, the downtime of the service provided and material damage to public amenities cause significant losses. The research shows how the installation of urban facilities in places that disagree with the rules, render strategic places in the municipality unusable, particularly for emergency response actions in the event of disasters.