Changing urbanization patterns in the Brazilian metropolis

Abstract

The international literature on the impacts of globalization on large cities has insistently pointed to the increase in residential segregation. Three mechanisms have been identified as the causes of this phenomenon: globalization, which by disseminating neoliberal ideas throughout the world, generated changes in the regulatory models and paradigms that guide urban policy; institutional reforms toward market liberalization and the property and housing market were undertaken in various countries; real estate prices became the central mechanism for distributing the population throughout the city, reinforcing income inequality as the determinant of urban spatial organization. At the same time, privatization exacerbated the growing inequality of access to the services and infrastructure that ensure urban well-being, especially with regard to quality. The wealthier areas, where those with greater purchasing power concentrate, have at their disposal an abundant supply of goods and services, whereas the areas populated by the poor are supplied with inferior goods and services. Further, globalization caused structural changes originating in the transformation of the productive base of the cities, creating trends toward social polarization. The social structure of the great metropolises is no longer represented by a pyramid, and is expressed instead by an hourglass where the middle positions narrow while the extremities widen. Simultaneously, there has been an increase in the distance between the average incomes of the higher and lower strata.

Citation

Pasternak, S. and Machado Bógus, L.M. (2010), "Changing urbanization patterns in the Brazilian metropolis", Clapson, M. and Hutchison, R. (Ed.) Suburbanization in Global Society (Research in Urban Sociology, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 231-251. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1047-0042(2010)0000010012