ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION PLAN OF PENÁPOLIS, BRAZIL: AN ASSESSMENT UNDER THE LIGHT OF THE PLANNING THEORIES

Abstract

This article aims to present an assessment of the Plano de Saneamento Ambiental de Penápolis, from the perspective of normative and conceptual elements. To that end, a specific assessment model was developed. The model seeks to identify guiding principles of the plan, based on analytical categories, and to compare them with the values defended by three currently distinguished planning schools. This comparison allowed the evaluation of the coherence between the principles that guided the initial planning proposal and the ones really undertaken in each of the elaboration phases. In the assessment, the evaluation of the coherence of the plan is assumed as fundamentally important, once its absence might negatively impact the implementation phase. The data for the analysis was collected through documental research, in meeting minutes and documents related to the elaboration of the plan, as well as through eight in-depth interviews, besides non-participant observation during the 10° Forum Municipal de Saneamento. For data analysis, the content analysis method was undertaken. The research highlighted that the major point in Penápolis is the participative culture built over time, making its principles prevalent in the directioning and monitoring of the sanitation practices, in the last 20 years, independently of the world views from municipal administrators that followed up. However, the consistent program of childhood and youth enviromental education, implemented with the objective of guaranteeing the continuity and sustainability of the continuous improvement of the services to the future also plays a relevant role.

Keywords: Penápolis, environmental sanitation, planning, participative culture