Climate emergency and urban housing precariousness: guidelines for climate adaptation in the São José neighborhood, João Pessoa - PB

Abstract

In the context of a climate emergency, cities are understood as key elements that mainly promote ecosystems and territorial transformation, thus contributing to the concentration of environmental risks. The Brazilian urbanization process is dominated by self-construction by the poorest, mainly in river floodplains and hillsides. The main impacts of climate change in Brazil are floods, landslides, and mass movements caused by extreme rainfall events. Those most vulnerable to these impacts are the people living in precarious settlements in ecologically fragile areas. Therefore, this article presents a social, physical, and environmental diagnosis of the São José neighborhood in the city of João Pessoa, state of Paraiba, Brazil, where more than half of the dwellings are in areas at risk, intending to identify guidelines and spatial interventions in the territory that guarantee an improvement in the social and environmental conditions of the resident population and local climate adaptation with minimal displacement of families.