Nature-Based Solutions in the Context of "Urbanalization": An Analysis of Biofilter Gardens in the City of Sobral - CE

Abstract

This article stems from reflections developed throughout the Internationalization I course of the Graduate Program in Geography at the State University Vale do Acaraú (UVA). The study sought to analyze how Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) implemented in the urban space of Sobral/CE are examined through the theoretical lens of Urbanalización by Francesc Muñoz and Geosystems Theory. NbS may thus be diverted from their structural purpose, becoming instruments for reproducing and worsening socio-environmental problems in cities. The study demonstrated that the prevalence of urban marketing and city branding over Nature-Based Solutions reduces green and blue infrastructure interventions in favor of aesthetic urbanism, neglecting the geosystemic complexity of the urban site. As the empirical object, we analyzed the implementation of biofiltering gardens in the medium-sized city of Sobral-CE, based on the external audit report of the Sobral Socio-Environmental Development Program. Evidence of urbanalización was identified in the technical failures of the system, in the instrumentalization of nature, in green gentrification, and in low social participation. The study concluded that the effectiveness of biofiltering gardens in Sobral-CE as an urban sustainability instrument requires overcoming the city marketing vision and aesthetic urbanism in favor of understanding geosystemic complexity and fostering social engagement and oversight.