VOLTA REDONDA AFTER CIA. SIDERÚRGICA NACIONAL PRIVATIZATION: THE CRISIS OF A MONO INDUSTRIAL CITY IN SEARCH OF A NEW ECONOMIC IDENTITY

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the socio-economic impacts of Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional privatization on the city of Volta Redonda. The research highlights how important the Company was to the development of the urban space and the collective identity of the city, and it describes through bibliographic and documentary reviews, the changes triggered by the Company privatization in the life of the local community. The results show that the process of privatization caused deep impacts on the city, which saw its industrial neighborhoods decline due to the high number of layoffs. In addition, it experienced a strong increase in the services sector, which changed into the most dynamic sector of the local economy. It was concluded that mono industrial cities built around a big company face serious difficulties when trying to seek a new economic functionality, what almost always ends up causing serious consequences in their social planning.