1- Inter-municipal Cooperation for Sanitation: between the universalization of services and the preservation of environmental quality

Brazilian metropolises still display spaces marked by highly precarious urban habits, with strong unfulfilled needs in sanitation services. The decrease in investments, high tariffs and the lack of a national policy for the sector and for metropolitan regions― all typical of the 90´s ― have contributed to this condition. The federal state and local governments now discuss an important question: what is the most suitable model for the administration of services for these areas ? By that it is meant a socially effective model, in the sense of being universally accessible and also mindful of the environment. Two attitudes on the model of the administration of services polarize the debates : (i) the proposed guarantee of municipal entitlement and autonomy in the choice of the administration model to be adopted, with different possibilities of cooperation between the municipalities that enclose the metropolitan regions, defended by the Ministry of Cities (Ministério das Cidades) and by entities of the sector like the ASSEMF (Association of Water and Sewage Services ) and made explicit in the Federal Government bill that defines the National Policy of Environment Sanitation; (ii) regionalized administration, with municipalities delegating the administration to the State Sanitation Companies, a proposal defended by entities like ABES (Brazilian Association of Sanitary Engineering) and the AESB (Brazilian Association of State Companies of Basic Sanitation). The federal government bill emphasizes the possibility of inter-municipal cooperation in the administration of sanitation services. In France inter-municipal cooperation is a historically consolidated service. It is performed by inter-municipal syndicates and urban communities, and can be attributed to the large fragmentation of the national territory. In 1998, there were 36 772 municipalities in the country. Municipal articulation was the technical and economic solution found for the administration of sanitation services. The objective of this research is to study the French inter-municipal model of cooperation , identifying potentialities and limits of the model, chiefly regarding environmental sustainability and social control of the administration. The analysis of the French experiment may bring potentially useful reference elements for the discussion of the proposal of inter-municipal cooperation in the administration of services presented in the bill of the Ministry of Cities which will regulate the sector and which are being debated in Brazil.

The institutional insertion of this proposal is guided by the fruitful interchange that has been taking place with the LATTS team of teachers and researchers since 1996. This interchange involved our visits to LATTS and visits from the LATTS researchers to PROURB and the observation of Prof. Bernard Barraqué´s work in the EUROWATER group, a project financed by the European Company that brings together teams from different member countries for the purpose of comparing sanitation policies and the administration of hydric resources. This ample research project deals, among other themes, with the meaning of a sustainable administration of water services and of appropriate territorial levels for the administration of services.

In May 2002, together with Prof. Ricardo Toledo from FAU/USP and with Prof. Bernard Barraqué from LATTS, we coordinated the work group on environment sanitation in the seminar “Cooperation France- Brazil Cities :Science and Technology” promoted by CNPq, FINEP and Caixa Econômica Federal. The objectives of the seminar included a project of cooperation between the two countries on the themes discussed , the creation of partnerships between the integrating projects and the definition of themes the research should prioritize.

The collaboration with Prof. Bernad Barraqué, who visited PROURB in 2004, has contributed for the maturing of the line of research about Urban Environment in this graduate program. It proposes principles and elements for planning and integrated administration that make compatible the objectives of preservation and the rational use of resources with the relief of social inequalities in Brazilian metropolises.

Head of the research team: Prof . Ana Lúcia Britto - PROURB/UFRJ

Products: elaboration of a report to be sent to the Ministry of Cities and to the Forums of Debate on the theme. Elaboration of a paper to be presented at the yearly meeting of the ANPUR and submitted to scientific journals in the area.

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2- The production and the unequal appropriation of public infra-structure in the metropolises. Analysis of sectorial and integrated plans and projects.

This projects results from a horizontally oriented analysis of metropolises studied by the Observatory, which analyzes specific matters of access to networks and services of public infra-structure― emphasizing systems of environmental sanitation and of hydric resources― on the basis of evidence raised in each of them.

Technological and administrative models of infra-structure provision and of urban services are not neutral as to their consequences for social inequality and segregation in the cities. In this project, different dimensions of regulation, administration and technological models for urban and regional infra-structure will be examined in the light of their inter-sectorial interaction, taking as a basis elements of sectorial or integrated plans in force in the metropolises studied. The purpose of the study is to determine the impact of these elements ― of aggravation or relief― on social inequality.

The project privileges the study of the limits and potentialities of non-structural measures and actions for the administration of the demand in the context of each of the metropolises studied. It is based on an articulation with projects and regional activities which study socio-environmental inequalities as illustrated by the project proposed for the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro entitled “The unequal production and appropriation of metropolitan space in Rio de Janeiro: an analysis of socio- environmental inequalities”. There will initially be studied cases of the metropolises of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Then we shall extend the analysis to the other metropolises which apply measures and instruments of administration of the demand of infra-structure and services of environmental sanitation and related ones.

The objective of the project is to study the socio-environmental consistency of non-structural measures and components of demand administration in sectorial or integrated plans of environmental sanitation and the management of hydric resources in force in the metropolises studied.

The project is structured in accordance with the following specific objectives:

1. To identify the proposal or adoption of non-structural measures and instruments of demand administration in sectorial or integrated plans of Brazilian metropolises, including plans for hydrographic basins.

2. To evaluate― in the case of past experiments ― the social consequences of identified measures and instruments, including the destination of unused capacities ( of infra-structure, of services ): whether they favored the generalization of access or increased the profits of the operator(s).

3. To evaluate the possible effects and consequences of these measures and instruments on social inequality, according to their particular insertion at each level, in each project, in light of the social-environmental inequalities found in each area of study.

4. To propose planning and integrated management principles and elements to harmonize the conservation and rational use of resources with the mitigation of social inequality in the Brazilian metropolises.

Heads of the research team: Prof. Ricardo Toledo Silva – FAU/USP, Prof Ana Lúcia Britto - PROURB/UFRJ and prof. Adauto Lucio Cardoso – IPPUR/UFRJ.

Consultant: Prof. Andrea Catenazzi - UNGS.

Research team: local teams.

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3- Analysis of the institutional performance of metropolitan municipalities.

This study purports to identify the institutional state framework dealing with the administration of metropolitan areas. In this diagnosis, it is important to focus the study of the administration in the metropolitan aspect itself (origin, evolution, present situation of the planning system and administration/organisms). The perspective of the inquiry is whether there exist or not levels of coordination for decision-making and/or implementation of municipal actions in metropolitan regions. Which administrative structures exist? What are the regional plans or directives, the mechanisms of financial compensation? Which are the moments of most effective actions of the metropolitan organ, and those of inertia ? What causes them ? What are the main obstacles to the present administration? Does the administration participate in the National Forum of the metropolitan regions?

All these matters must be investigated in metropolitan organs and at the main levels of planning which have to do with regional administration (state and municipal boards of metropolitan matters, metropolitan associations of municipalities, municipal organs for the planning of the main municipalities beyond the pole).

In parallel with this regional knowledge, the following actions of inter-municipal cooperation will be identified: transportation, housing and sanitation. The institutional frame and the financial management in municipalities where these actions exist will be evaluated.

The evaluation of the institutional frame of the local administrations, based on data from the research Perfil dos Municípios Brasileiros do IBGE (Profile of Brazilian Municipalities) completes this body of information from the following viewpoints: the democratization of municipal administration; the existence of inter-municipal consortiums; the existence of a municipal real estate cadastral map and of a cadastral map of Housing Needs; policies of Public Security; instruments of Urban Planning; instruments of governmental planning; of a housing policy and economic policy.

Heads of the research team: Maria do Livramento Miranda Clementino and Ilza Araújo Leão de Andrade and Natal Nucleus.

Research team: local teams.

Products: monographs about each metropolitan region.

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4- Interchange program with the Metrópoli 2025 organism.

An interchange program with Metrópoli 2025 is intended. The Metrópoli 2025 is a Mexican civil organization meant to encourage the creation of metropolitan coordenatation and development policies in the region of the Valley of Mexico.

Additionally, a cooperation is intended with the Observatorio Nacional de Suelo y Vivienda (National Soil and Housing Observatory). These activities should be developed in the framework of the inter-institutional agreement between the Observatory of Metropolises and the Colégio Mexiquense, with the participation of Prof. Alfonso Iracheta.

Heads of the research team: Alfonso Iracheta – Colégio Mexiquense and Ms. Rosetta Mammarella – FEE and Porto Alegre Nucleus.

Product: a report.

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5- Systematization of experiments of institutional models of metropolitan administration.

Collecting and systematization of the experiments of the institutional models of metropolitan administration of Manchester, Rotterdam, Stuttgart, Lyon, Bolonha, Santiago do Chile, Buenos Aires and other metropolises.

Head of the research team: PhD. Ricardo Brinco – FEE and Porto Alegre Nucleus.

Research team: Ms. Sheila Villanova Borba – FEE and Porto Alegre Nucleus, Sol Garson – Rio de Janeiro Nucleus.

Product: Report.

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