Cracks in a split city

Popular Housing in the City of Sao Paulo

Abstract

This essay brings considerations about the popular neighborhoods of the city of São Paulo (peripheries, slums, occupation of buildings by housing movements and housing estates), based on a decade of systematic observation work. It seeks to observe the various movements towards the configuration of the space of popular housing in São Paulo, from the first efforts to reverse the split established in the city from the modern experience that settled there at the end of the 19th century, passing through reviews of some actions of the Public Power throughout the 20th century and recent planning instruments. The text presented here looks for possibilities in facing the great challenge with regard to housing in the city of São Paulo, namely, its popular neighborhoods, with their multiple precariousness. Housing is understood here in its full sense, that is, housing associated with urban infrastructure and public facilities.