Índice de desenvolvimento sustentável municipal participativo : um estudo da sustentabilidade do município de Pitimbu a partir da percepção de atores sociais.

Abstract

This research is part of a broad proposal directed to the development of a systematic methodology of sustainability indexes that can operationalize the concept of sustainable development and measure the sustainability of cities with participative democratic practices. In this way, this study applied this methodology which provided an index of sustainability of the city of Pitimbu-PB, through the perception of a group of social actors within the perspective of the sustainable local development. This perspective is important because describes the progress occurred in the traditional methodology of the Index of Sustainable Development for Cities - ISDC, what contributed to the Index of Participative Sustainable Development for City’s methodology - IPSDC, which brings the inclusion of local social actors. This study presented an exploratory and descriptive nature and was guided as a case study. Its methodological trajectory is comprised of quantitative and qualitative approaches on the Sustainable Development Indicator Systems. In this way, the indicators were defined based on the “Indicadores de Desenvolvimento Sustentável dos Estados Brasileiros e dos Municípios” model, proposed by Martins and Cândido (2008). The research was performed through a non-participant observation and visits to the city. Secondary data and necessary information to the development of this area were surveyed, as well. The results found in the six sustainability dimensions and their respective themes and indicators contributed to the obtainment of the dashboard of sustainability of the city of Pitimbu, which value is 0,4613; it represents an alert situation to the sustainable development. The progress obtained with the innovation and the use of a new participative methodology to the DSDC guarantees the participation of social actors, whose experience is a mark of difference from the former method. The IPSDC’s methodology, developed to evaluate the level of the sustainability of the city, is a new experience which aims to build, by the local community participation, new perspectives to the city context. The application of this tool allowed the visualization of the sustainability level of the city of Pitimbu, and at the same time provided a set of fundamental information to the creation and implementation of public politics of development and strengthening of the sustainable local development process. Keywords: