Participatory Budgeting processes in Brazil: 15 years later

1
Participatory Budgeting processes in Brazil 15
years later

• Edesio Fernandes

2
Structure of paper

• Introduction
• Implementing the urban reform agenda in Brazil
• Participatory Budgeting processes in Brazil
• Conclusion
• Notes
• References

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II Implementing the urban reform agenda in Brazil

• 2.1 Antecedents
• 2.2 The 1988 Federal Constitution
• 2.3 A new legal-urban order in the 1990s
• 2.4 The 2001 City Statute
• 2.5 The Ministry of Cities
• 2.5.1 The National Programme to Support
  Sustainable Urban Land Regularisation
  
• 2.5.2 The National Campaign for Participatory
  Municipal Master Plans
  
• 2.5.3 Problems and constraints
• 2.5.4 The National Council of Cities
• 2.6 The future of urban reform in Brazil

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From 1930s to 1980s rapid urbanisation

• Cities as loci of industrial development
• Sociospatial segregation
• Unequal distribution of services and equipments
• Informal development as rule central and
  peripheral areas
  
• Housing deficit 7.9 million
• Vacant land (25) and vacant properties (5.5
  million)
  
• Environmental impact (water crisis)

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Urban crisis

• Made possible by
• Weakening of local government
• Attrition of local parliaments
• Political exclusion of people

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Consequences from late 1970s to late 1980s

• Growing social mobilisation trade unions,
  associations, NGOs
  
• New political parties
• Growing municipalism

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Urban Reform Movement (Forum)

• Social function of urban land and property
• Democratisation of access to land and housing
  rights
  
• Regularisation of informal settlements
• Confront land speculation
• Recapture of surplus values
• Decentralisation
• Democratic management of cities
• Institutional representation at federal level

8
New legal-urban order 1988 Constitution and 2001
City Statute

• Three inter-related processes
• Extreme decentralisation
• Land governance framework Municipal Master Plans
  to define property rights
  
• Popular participation in land and urban
  management
  
• The Right to the City

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Further legal reforms

• 2000 Social right to housing constitutional
  amendment
  
• 2004 Public-private partnerships law
• 2005 Intermunicipal consortia law
• 2005 National Social Housing Fund law
• 2006 ongoing nationwide discussion on thorough
  revision of the 1979 land subdivision law
  

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The Ministry of Cities

• Organisation and proposals
• The National Programme to Support Sustainable
  Urban Land Regularisation
  
• The National Campaign for Participatory Municipal
  Master Plans
  
• Problems and constraints
• The National Conferences and National Council of
  Cities UN-HABITAT 2006 Scroll of Honour
  
• The future of urban reform in Brazil

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An elusive balance

• Urban reform requires
• Renewed social mobilisation
• Legal reform
• Institutional change
• This is an open-ended process , the political
  quality of which resides ultimately in the
  Brazilian societys capacity to effectively
  assert its legal right to be present and actively
  participate in the decision-making process

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III Participatory processes

• 3.1 Antecedents
• 3.2 Aims
• 3.3 Claims
• 3.4 Main issues that have emerged over the last
  15 years
  
• 3.5 Tensions
• 3.6 Achievements
• 3.7 Challenges
• 3.8 Critique
• 3.9 Dissociation with urban planning
• 3.10 The future of PB

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Participatory processes

• Executive power committees, councils,
  referendums
  
• Legislative power popular initiative of urban
  laws, public audiences
  
• Judiciary civil public action/public litigation
  urban order as collective right
  
• Participation in planning, decision-making and
  management

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Participatory Budgeting processes

• Original proposal
• Antecedents in the 1980s
• Proposed in 1990 in Porto Alegre by the Workers
  Party responding to social claims
  
• More than 120 municipalities
• Adopted internationally NGOs, IADB, WB

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Aims

• Popular participation in the allocation of public
  resources
  
• Individuals and organisations
• Increasingly larger of investment budget
• Increasingly larger number of people

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Claims

• Widen citizenship
• Ultimate form of participation
• Radicalisation of (local) democracy

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Main issues that have emerged over the last 15
years

• Local needs vs. city-wide needs
• Specific needs vs. general needs (housing,
  sanitation, transportation, etc)
  
• Specific groups vs. general public

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Tensions...

• Local vs. metropolitan
• Local vs. central/state
• Direct vs. representative (popular vs. middle-
  and upper-classes)
  
• Executive vs. Legislative
• Decentralisation ? democratisation
• Participation ? democratisation

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Achievements

• Political education
• Political culture
• Specific improvements (rather than structural
  changes)

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Challenges

• Not enough resources
• From works to maintenance (led to defeat of
  Workers Party in PoA political culture not
  strong enough?)
  
• Political changes continuity (political culture
  enough?)
  
• Legalisation recognition as right?

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Critique

• Too little/too long/too costly?
• Bureaucratic/inefficient problem of scale?
• Far from radical, does not challenge status
  quo/break with exclusionary processes/promote
  ruptures accommodation of interests?
  
• Pulverisation of social claims having to dispute
  through PB?
  
• Role of social organisations co-optation/corrupt
  ion? Legitimatisation of exclusionary policies?
  
• A cosy arrangement? Does not threaten traditional
  political parties? Too mainstream?
  

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Dissociation with urban planning

• PB does not question exclusionary urban
  development model
  
• Does not strengthen land governance framework
• Too dependent on (politically manipulated) local
  property tax
  
• Planning does not interfere in the heart of land
  structure and markets

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Future of PB

• Will depend on Master Plans
• 1,600 municipalities
• Legal obligation to reconcile proposals with PB
  a new era?