University of São Paulo: Urban operations develop activities in restricted areas and increase displacement

Urban operations are planning designed for the development of the city. Thus, there is intensive land change, in order to transform a given area into commercial or residential use, for example. However, this could end up concentrating on certain areas and making urban space more elite.

To explain about this topic in an interview with Jornal da USP Up 1st limited Edition the Guilherme Minarelli, researcher of the Center of Metropolis (CEM), USP, told how this is taking place in São Paulo. “Urban operations in the region of Faria Lima and Águas Espraiadas, which are further south, were the ones that concentrated the greatest growth in high and medium-standard vertical properties, both commercial and residential,” he says.

Minarelli also highlights how these instruments of urban operation helped to increase this concentration. “The set of urban operations that are active occupy 3.5% of the urban territory of the city, but they are concentrating around 50% of the commerce of the areas, at least, of the commercial stock of the highest standard”, he emphasizes.

For the researcher, this becomes a problem, as only these regions end up developing and concentrating the offer of jobs. “If we concentrate our activities in very restricted, very small territories, we force a good part of the population to move to work there”, he emphasizes.