Outside of the city or outside of the law? State-of-art and challenges to the regulation of gated communities

Resumen

The implementation of gated communities has been common prac- tice in Brazilian cities, despite the controversy between legality and illegality of such enterprises, not provided in federal legislation dealing with urban land parceling. In the north axis of the Metro- politan Region of Belo Horizonte (MRBH), especially in the city of Lagoa Santa, this kind of occupation stands out as the predomi- nant model of urban development. Starting with a brief discussion of the impacts of this urbanization mode, which has resulted in fragmented and dispersed cities, this paper lists the current situ- ation of gated communities regulation as land parceling gure. It also discusses the main challenges for the implementation of this action in MRBH following objectives and guidelines expressed in the Integrated Development Plan of MRBH. Finally, it points out the possible impact of general repercussion thesis adopted by Su- premo Tribunal Federal (Federal Supreme Court), which rati es the local autonomy given by the Federal Constitution of 1988 and the challenges of incorporating this model of occupation to urban legislation considering the metropolitan context. What can be said about the space to be produced based on the experience of mu- nicipalities that have this mode as the main model of urban ex- pansion? What can also be said about the municipal regulatory initiatives in MRBH? How to incorporate these enterprises to the city and to the support of the law? Such issues are discussed based on the case of Lagoa Santa city.