Self-segregation dream: Postcolonial legacies of racial property regimes and urbanization in Nova Lima, Brazil

This paper explores the intertwined relationship between urban planning, the genealogy of racial property regimes, and residential segregation in postcolonial urban contexts. Through the lens of racial capitalism, the study revisits the history of Nova Lima to reveal the origins of a racial property regime and its enduring impact on contemporary land ownership and planning practices. Nova Lima, an affluent city in the Belo Horizonte metropolitan area (Brazil), faces mounting pressure from real estate interests, the mining industry, and environmental crises. The study sheds light on global dynamics at the intersection of capital, space, and race, while challenging the colorblind narratives often perpetuated in urban planning discourses and practices. By linking the history of racialized urban processes with contemporary planning frameworks, the paper examines current planning and zoning regulations to uncover how policy decisions either reinforce or intentionally sustain socio-spatial inequalities through unproblematized or desired white spatial segregation.