Publication finds that areas with a concentration of low-income families have become more heterogeneous and that those housing high-income families have become more homogeneous
In the 2000s, the Metropolitan Region of Campinas (RMC) showed lower demographic growth than in the previous decade – 1,8% compared to 2,5%. Despite the modest increase in population, the RMC registered an important change in its internal spatial distribution during the period. Areas where low-income families are concentrated have become more heterogeneous, while those housing high-income families have become more homogeneous. The finding is recorded in the atlas Metropolitan Campinas: Socio-spatial diversities at the turn of the 21st century, organized by researchers José Marcos Pinto da Cunha and Camila Areias Falcão, both from the Population Studies Center (Nepo) at Unicamp. The work, published in electronic version, was supported by the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Fapesp) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).
According to Cunha, who is also a professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH), the atlas was created based on data provided by the 2000 and 2010 censuses. The publication updates the previous edition, launched in 2006 and which was based on information from the 80s and 90s. In the period between the two works, observes the Nepo researcher, important transformations occurred within the RMC. “The first observation is that the region is growing less and less in demographic terms. This happens not only because of the drop in fertility, which is observed in the rest of Brazil, but also because of the reduction in the volume and intensity of migration. In other words, the region is not as attractive to people from other regions and states as it was in previous times, especially in the 70s and 80s,” he points out.
With the drop in demographic growth, the researcher continues, it would be expected that the internal spatial distribution of the region would stabilize, but that was not what happened. “We saw important changes in this aspect. On the one hand, there was a significant growth in what we call the Cordillera of Poverty, which is made up of low-income peripheries, such as Hortolândia, Sumaré and Monte Mor. One aspect we observed in relation to these areas is that they have undergone a process of heterogenization. They also began to be occupied by middle-income families, which we did not identify so clearly in the 80s and 90s.”
The factors that contributed to this transformation, according to Cunha, have been analyzed in other studies carried out by his research group at Nepo. But the researcher puts forward a hypothesis. “Over the last few years, we have seen new ways of occupying urban space, such as the increase in the number of horizontal and vertical condominiums aimed at middle-income families. Recently, I heard that gated communities are being built in Monte Mor. Another aspect is that, with the aging of the population, there is an increase in people's socioeconomic level, thus favoring this greater heterogeneity”.
In relation to the so-called Cordilheira da Riqueza, the one with a large concentration of high-income population, which occupies a strip that extends from Vinhedo to Paulínia, passing through Campinas and Jaguariúna, exactly the opposite happened, that is, there was a process of homogenization . In other words, it has become even more elite. “This area is made up of land that belonged to old coffee farms. With the loss of their agricultural function, they became stores of value. In recent years, these areas were subdivided and received new high-end condominiums, which joined the existing ones. Although there is no completely homogeneous city, this Mountain Range of Wealth has concentrated population with this profile”, points out the atlas coordinator.
Pendulum
Questions like these, considers Cunha, reaffirm the need for public managers to think about urban space in a regional way. A person who lives in Sumaré or Valinhos, he says, is actually a metropolitan citizen. “This metropolitan citizen lives in one city, works or studies in another and consumes culture and entertainment in a third. To give you an idea, around 40% of the economically active population of Hortolândia works in Campinas. This forces this contingent to make large daily journeys, which has an impact on traffic, the environment and the quality of life itself”, he considers.
The displacement cited by the Nepo researcher is technically called pendulum movement. According to data from the atlas, this movement went from 176 thousand people per day in 2000 to 312 thousand in 2010, a number that is equivalent to the population of Franca, located in the interior of São Paulo. “This phenomenon clearly demonstrates that the living space of RMC residents is much broader than the municipality where they live. Hence the need to provide the region with public services and equipment that can serve this metropolitan citizen with quality”, points out Cunha.
In the opinion of the organizer of the atlas, this exercise of observing urban space from a regional magnifying glass has already been done at RMC, mainly through activities promoted by the Campinas Metropolitan Agency (Agemcamp), a state agency linked to the Civil House Secretariat . Agemcamp's mission is to integrate the organization, planning and execution of public functions of common interest in the Metropolitan Region of Campinas, made up of 20 municipalities [Americana, Artur Nogueira, Campinas, Cosmópolis, Engenheiro Coelho, Holambra, Hortolândia, Indaiatuba, Itatiba , Jaguariúna, Monte Mor, Morungaba, Nova Odessa, Paulínia, Pedreira, Santa Bárbara D'Oeste, Santo Antônio de Posse, Sumaré, Valinhos and Vinhedo], where approximately 2,8 million inhabitants live.
Cunha understands that some themes are being better addressed than others at the regional level, but in general, mayors have realized the need to search for joint solutions to problems that affect the metropolitan space, such as the issue of health and solid waste treatment. , to give just two examples. “Little by little, we are moving towards what could be, in the future, metropolitan governance. Our expectation is that the atlas will contribute to this advancement”, points out the researcher.
