Legal Geographies of a City in Distress: Climate Emergency, Urban Revitalization Projects and the Fight for Spatial Justice in Porto Alegre, Brazil

There is a growing awareness of the global climate emergency and its impact on cities in the Global South. However, little is known about the legal geographies of cities where economic and political challenges are compounded by environmental distress.

This paper aims to contribute to the socio-legal literature on law and urban space, focusing on conflicts over the regulation of public space and struggles for spatial justice in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Categories from the subfield of legal geography served as the theoretical framework for designing a qualitative study as part of a project supported by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

In May 2024, Porto Alegre experienced severe flooding after unprecedented torrential rains affected large areas of the State of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil. The waters of Lake Guaíba took weeks to recede, leaving several neighborhoods submerged and impacting key urban infrastructure, with lasting consequences for residents.

Among the directly affected areas were emblematic waterfront public spaces: the Mauá Pier, Moacyr Scliar Park, and Marinha do Brasil Park, where urban revitalization projects were being implemented through public-private partnerships, albeit not without dispute. These locations also housed crucial components of Porto Alegre’s flood protection system—walls, floodgates, dikes, and pump houses—that partially failed during the flooding due to a lack of maintenance.

In this context, despite the efforts of authorities at various levels, major media, and actors involved in delivering justice to maintain political consensus, controversial issues regarding the regulation of urban public space emerged, particularly concerning the protection of rights and the well-being of present and future generations. This paper seeks to illustrate the importance of norms and normative practices in addressing these new challenges and demands for spatial justice.