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Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 19, No. 1, 207-223 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0956247807076784
© 2007 International Institute for Environment and Development

São Paulo peri-urban dynamics: some social causes and environmental consequences

Haroldo Torres

Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (Cebrap), Rua Morgado de Mateus, 615 - São Paulo, 04015-902, Brazil, hgtorres{at}uol.com.br

Humberto Alves

Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (Cebrap), Rua Morgado de Mateus, 615 - São Paulo, 04015-902, Brazil, humbiro{at}yahoo.com.br

Maria Aparecida De Oliveira

Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (Cebrap), Rua Morgado de Mateus, 615 - São Paulo, 04015-902, Brazil, mariaap.oliveira{at}saude.gov.br

This paper shows that the demographic growth of São Paulo's Metropolitan Area is very uneven. While the centre of the city is losing population, its farthest suburbs are growing quite fast. Furthermore, those fast growth areas are the poorest of the metropolitan area, with less infrastructure than other areas within the region and high levels of deforestation and informal land use. The objective of this paper is two-fold: first, it explains the reasons for these intra-urban dynamics by showing that the city is losing population in exactly the places where real estate investments are growing most significantly; second, it seeks to explore the environmental consequences of this pattern of urban sprawl — such as the occupation of environmentally protected areas — by presenting data on forest cover reduction. The approach is original in that it contrasts socioeconomic, demographic and environmental trends within the city of São Paulo according to the rate of population growth of each of the city's areas, instead of employing the more conventional comparison of municipalities.

Key Words: deforestation • environmental degradation • informal settlements • land markets • peri-urban areas • population growth • São Paulo's Metropolitan Area • urban sprawl


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