ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses urban policies in order to identify possible relationships between the concept of social equity and the contents of plans and inquires about its applicability in the city. The concept of social equity in the sustainable development debate has been used to support environmental sustainability principles. The emergence and consolidation of the sustainable development debate in the world coincided with the end of military dictatorship in Brazil in the 1980s. Urban policies in Brazil take different forms; they appear as planning guidelines in planos diretores, transport plans, and urban regulations, mainly land use zoning and land parcelling. The first comprehensive plan for the development of the Belm metropolitan region was drawn up between 1973 and 1975. It is called Development Plan for the Greater Belm. The second plan set up for the Belm metropolitan region in 1980 was called the Metropolitan Structural Plan. Belm Urban Masterplan is the third and the most recent plan for Belm.
