Research developed at IE finds that the pattern of urban segregation in the municipality has deepened, worsening social inequalities among its residents
The improvement in Brazil's economic and social indicators in the 2000s was not enough to promote changes in the pattern of urban segregation historically recorded in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo (RMSP), the capital in particular. On the contrary, despite positive statistics, the problem deepened during the period. This is the main finding of the doctoral thesis by economist Armando Palermo Funari, defended at the Institute of Economics (IE) at Unicamp, under the guidance of professor Mariana Fix. “This occurred because the inequality scenario in the city of São Paulo was worsened. Income increased, but asymmetrically, with greater benefits for the richest, to the detriment of the middle classes of society”, considers the researcher.
Funari will look to the work of urban planner Flávio Villaça, a former professor at USP, for the basis for his investigation. Villaça is known for analyzing how social classes were distributed across Brazilian metropolitan regions, São Paulo among them, and the consequences of this process. “In general terms, Villaça shows that the development pattern of the city of São Paulo, for example, is marked by the concentration of high-income classes in a certain territorial portion, which he calls the Southwest Quadrant. I used the methodology he proposed and tried to bring new data to analyze the topic in a more recent period”, explains the author of the thesis.
According to the economist, Villaça demonstrates that the pattern of urban segregation reflects and reinforces, to a large extent, the great social inequalities historically observed in the country. “When a high-income social class occupies a given region of the municipality, it ends up concentrating other advantages, of an essentially urban nature, which add to the economic advantages it already has. In other words, the urban affects this situation of social inequality as the city's spaces are occupied differently”, points out Funari.
Furthermore, the researcher continues, high-income classes play an active role in shaping social issues both within the municipality and within the RMSP. “The actions of the richest end up bringing more services and infrastructure to the places where they live, which widens the socio-urban gap in relation to other areas of the city”, says Funari. The question that guided the economist's thesis is whether the improvement in economic and social indicators recorded in the 2000s would have been enough to change this trend. “Unfortunately, what I found is that the situation not only persisted, but also deepened. In fact, the pie grew during this period, but the biggest and best slices continued to be offered to the richest,” he adds.
Asked about the Master Plan's ability to at least mitigate these socio-urban inequalities, Funari notes that, in theory, the instrument could fulfill this role. However, he remembers that normally discussions surrounding the formulation of public policies aimed at urban planning are led by groups and corporations in the real estate segment, with great financial power and high political influence, such as construction companies and developers. “Often, civil society has little capacity to interfere in decisions.”
An example of the strength of this LOBBY comes from the process of preparing the São Paulo Master Plan during the administration of Mayor Fernando Haddad (2013-2016). According to the author of the doctoral thesis, the proposal was based on an accurate diagnosis, but underwent numerous modifications over time, especially when it was processed in the City Council. “At the end of the process, the legislation did not appear to be as progressive as City Hall would have liked, and even less so in relation to what it should have been”, he analyzes.
Funari recalls that the pattern of urban segregation seen in São Paulo has extremely harmful consequences for society. “Starting with its undemocratic nature. In the democratic regime, it is worth noting, people are considered equivalent. However, this equivalence must occur beyond the moment of the election, in which each voter represents one vote. A result of the urban occupation model in our metropolises is the society apartment. First, second and third class citizens are being created. We need more equity. It is not possible for us to continue reproducing a pattern that legitimizes such obvious mechanisms for promoting inequalities”, he understands.
Ultimately, the economist continues, when one determines where one or another portion of the population should live, one is also delimiting other issues. “The week I defended my thesis, a study was released that contrasted the indicators of the districts that make up the city of São Paulo. One of the data revealed that in a certain place the resident's life expectancy was between 20 and 25 years higher than that of another. Now, when the segregation standard establishes where a person should live, it is also indirectly demarcating until what age that person can live”, he points out.
In other words, without any veneer, what the researcher found is that São Paulo is not a city for everyone, but rather for a few. “The options of those who can choose where to live end up hindering the possibilities of those who have no choice. As a result, the abyss deepens. Today, we clearly have a Denmark and a Zambia within the municipality”, he asserts. Funari understands that it is possible and urgent to build more democratic cities.
To achieve this, he warns, it is necessary not to use ready-made or imported solutions and to pay more attention to people than to the structure. “When the public authorities act on a space in the city without any infrastructure, this space becomes qualified. As a result, people who pay rent in this portion run the risk of being expelled, as they can no longer afford the local cost of living, due to the appreciation of the square meter. This is an issue that needs to be better analyzed, including within the concept of a smart city that has been gaining ground on the agenda of public administrators. It is necessary to understand that there is no point in acting on the space without considering the people who occupy it”, he reinforces.
The public university, concludes Funari, could collaborate with this discussion by making the knowledge generated on the topic by its researchers available to society. “The university is inserted in this context. Without a doubt, we have qualified professionals to help propose solutions to different urban problems, including the unequal occupation of municipalities”.