The degradation of natural resources is a constant reality in thecities of Brazil and it has been creating environmental and social concern.The study of natural environmental fragility, exacerbated by human activitiesin urban environments, should be the subject of researches that aimed atthe urban sprawl. The objective of this research is to diagnose the potentialand emerging environmental fragility of the Northeast AdministrativeRegion of the Municipality of Santa Maria-RS. The methodology used isbased on Ross (1994), in which environmental fragility is defined by theconcepts of Ecodynamic Units (Tricart, 1977), grouped in UnstableEcodynamic Units and Stable Ecodynamic Units, with the establishmentof degrees of fragility rated from very low until the very high. The PotentialEnvironmental Fragility Chart resulted from the overlay of InformationPlanes (IPs) of the Clinographic, Morphological, Geologic and Soils Charts.The Chart of Emerging Environmental fragility is the result of the overlayof IPs Potential Environmental Fragility Chart with the Land Use and LandCover Charts. These charts show the different degrees of fragility that theenvironment has on the basis of their genetic and anthropic characteristics.It was found that 42,9% of the present environmental potential fragilityrated high to very high. This fragility occurs due to the physical propertiesof places with the large terrain slopes, combined with low soil developmentand hill morphology. 79.2% of the studied areas are considered fragileenvironmental emerging medium to very high, and 48.6% have a highfragility. The areas of greatest fragility are those that are least protected, orthose where there were much modification of the natural environmentresulting from human actions. This research works as a support for theurban and environmentalplanning.
