Metamorphoses of political power in the cities

the hegemonic struggle between market-city and rights-city

Abstract

This article seeks to understand the complex and multifaceted relationship of political power between urban space, society and the state in capitalist accumulation. Urban policy in Brazil, especially, after approval of the City Statute in 2001, presented a possibility of introducing new practices of urban planning and democratic management. However, the management of urban policies has become the target of different city projects, especially due to the important role that urban space plays for the reproduction of capital and for life in cities. The present text investigates the characteristics of the main disputed projects, synthetically identified as "city-market" and "city-law", their contradictions from the capitalist state where this discussion is located in the light of the Marxist tradition theory.