This paper talks about the power relations within the consultative council of the APA-Sul, a conservation area situated in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte. There the lower-class sectors are apparently underrepresented and higher middle class representatives are concerned about the slumisation of the region. Consequently an environmental conflict arises about the loss of "environmental quality" of the area, partly associated with lower class housing, providing opportunities of discourses to justify social segregation in space and the elitization of the landscape at stake.
Environmental conflict; Production of space; Conservation area; Urbanization; Social segregation
