Subnormal agglomerates and the municipal master plan of the city of Itabuna

Disorderly urban growth has built invisible walls, dividing the population between those who can enjoy the goods and services that the urban system provides, and the other part of society that lives on the margins of this process. As a result, there are residences located in precarious regions and with very little access to basic services, called subnormal agglomerations by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). To guide the administrators, the City Statute discussed the Master Plan, and the function of this instrument for the organization and management of the city, especially in the residential allocation of the population. In this context, we entered the reality of Itabuna, a municipality located in southern Bahia, which in the lapse of 10 years experienced a growth of neighborhoods considered subnormal settlements, a situation aggravated by the current Municipal Master Plan that does not represent the reality faced by the population. In this way, this research seeks to discuss how coherent and up-to-date municipal legislation resonates with social and economic issues, and when this correspondence does not occur, the law merely fulfills a legal formality and fails to attend to what is most important in the city, which are the people and the way they live in the urban centers.