SUSTAINABLE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT INDEX APPLIED TO MUNICIPALITIES OF THE CARIRI METROPOLITAN REGION

Abstract

Sustainability indices or indicators have been useful for measuring and evaluating the development of territories and organizations. The present paper aimed to compare the level of sustainable development achieved among the nine cities of the Metropolitan Region of Cariri, Ceará (RMC), via environmental, economic, and social indicators. The updated data were selected based on the IDS BRASIL (2014) of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), and acquired through IBGE platforms like IPECE yearbook and Atlas Brazil. The data were normalized, facilitating the comparison of performance in the various dimensions of sustainability. After being transformed into indices, the values were classified into: critical, alert, acceptable or ideal. The set of basic information that involves income and labor, education, health, safety, infrastructure, access to public policies of income distribution, drainage, sanitation, urbanization, vegetation, yields, among others, and their respective performances, were then compiled and averaged per city. The most developed cities of the region are Juazeiro do Norte, Crato and Barbalha, in this order. Santana do Cariri is the city that needs more attention regarding its development.