DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION IN THE DEFENSE OF SUSTAINABLE CITIES

Abstract

This article reflects on the management of a neighborhood Residents' Association located in a large municipality, located in the State of São Paulo. This study brings an important contribution to the debate on popular participation in city planning as a management strategy for achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goal - SDG, number 11, which points out: "Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable''. The methodology developed was bibliographic and field research with a qualitative approach, with the use of semi-structured interview techniques, and observation. The data collected in the interviews were analyzed from a theoretical-critical perspective that guarantees a reading of social reality and favors the understanding of social relations in their essence, that is, beyond what is presented in the appearance of the facts.  The study brought indicators that although residents' associations are privileged spaces for popular participation, in the investigated institution there was no practice of protagonism of residents in social mobilization and participation in collective affairs. It is evident that the residents' association is unable to perform its political functions, nor to facilitate the approximation of the population with the municipal management, aiming at participation in the elaboration of public policies and sustainable local development.