Gestão municipal e sustentabilidade: uma avaliação do Plano Municipal de Agroecologia e Desenvolvimento Rural Sustentável de São Paulo (2023-2031)

Abstract

This study critically evaluates the Municipal Plan for Agroecology and Sustainable Rural Development of Sao Paulo (PMADRS), the main municipal public planning instrument aimed at strengthening agroecology and sustainable rural development until 2031, within a metropolitan context marked by the presence of rural, urban and peri-urban agricultures. The research seeks to understand the different conceptions of development (productivist, adaptive, and ecosocial) embedded in the Plan. To achieve this, a qualitative approach was adopted, combining a critical literature review on agroecology, sustainable rural development, and alternative agricultures with documentary research and categorical content analysis. The qualitative evaluation was structured around the economic, environmental, social, and agroecological dimensions, allowing the identification of how distinct development rationalities are distributed and articulated within the thematic axes of the PMADRS. The results demonstrate that the Plan presents a hybrid configuration, marked by the coexistence of productivist, adaptive, and ecosocial conceptions of development. Although it incorporates principles related to environmental sustainability, social participation, the valorization of local knowledge, and the strengthening of family farming, there is a predominance of the economic dimension, oriented toward market integration, productive formalization, and the economic viability of activities. In this context, agroecology appears simultaneously as a proposal for transformation and as a functional instrument for environmental compliance and impact mitigation. The study also highlights limitations related to governance, intersectoral coordination, public financing, and institutional capacity, indicating that the consolidation of agroecology as a structuring strategy for sustainable development still depends on strengthening the State’s technical, administrative, and political capacities. It is concluded that the PMADRS represents an important step forward in the institutionalization of agroecology within the metropolitan context, although it remains conditioned by adaptive rationalities and by the centrality of economic logic in public policy planning.