Building a

South-American
Metropolis
Roberto Rocco

TU Delft, Faculty of Architecture,

Department of Urbanism
Chair Spatial Planning and Strategy

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Some basic starting points

Brazil (and LA as a whole) has entered a new
demographic phase. Birth rates are lower, the
population is mostly urban (+88%).
Many cities must face historically produced
problems, the result of decades of strong
demographic pressure, poor governance and lack of
effective planning strategies.
Meanwhile, a new economic scenario (globalisation?)
is creating new urban form and structures. Human
activity is differently distributed over the territory.
Here I try to describe some urban processes
occurring in the region of Sao Paulo, which are
shaping a large polycentric and fragmented macrometropolis

The content of this presentation in

simple words
1. What IS So Paulo today
2. Historical origins and growth
process
3. Most relevant problems today
4. Sites we MAY visit and why

Lima
Salvador

Brasilia

Belo Horizonte

Asuncion

Cordoba

Rio
Sao Paulo

Curitiba

Porto Alegre

Santiago

Montevideo
Buenos Aires

GDP per country PPP

World Bank (2006)

Rank

Country
World

GDP (PPP)
$m
61,006,604

European Union

12,626,921

United States

12,409,465

China

8,572,666a

Japan

3,943,754

India

3,815,553b

Germany

2,417,537

United Kingdom

1,926,809

France

1,829,559

Italy

1,667,753

Brazil

1,627,262

10

Russia

1,559,934

11

Spain

1,133,539

12

Canada

1,061,236

13

South Korea

1,056,094

14

Mexico

1,052,443

15

Indonesia

847,415

16

Australia

643,066

17

Turkey

612,312

18

Argentina

558,755

19

South Africa

557,971b

20

Thailand

549,265

21

Iran

540,207

22

Netherlands

537,675

23

Poland

533,552

24

Philippines

408,637

25

Pakistan

374,313

GDP per capita PPP

IMF (2005)

41

Estonia

16,414

2004

42

Kuwait

16,301

2004

43

Slovakia

16,041

2004

44

Saudi Arabia

15,229

2004

45

Saint Kitts and Nevis

14,649

2003

46

Trinidad and Tobago

14,258

2002

47

Lithuania

14,158

2004

48

Argentina

14,109

2001

49

Poland

12,994

2003

50

Mauritius

12,895

2004

51

Latvia

12,666

2004

52

Croatia

12,324

2004

53

South Africa

12,161

2004

54

Seychelles

12,059

2003

55

Chile

11,937

2004

56

Libya

11,624

2003

57

Antigua and Barbuda

11,523

2004

58

Botswana

11,41

2003

59

Malaysia

11,201

2004

60

Russia

11,041

2004

61

Uruguay

10,72

2004

62

Costa Rica

10,434

2000

63

Mexico

10,186

2000

64

Bulgaria

9,223

2004

65

Romania

8,785

2004

66

Brazil

8,561

2004

67

Thailand

8,368

2004

GDP PPP compared

GDP Per Capita PPP compared

FDI inflow 2000

source: UNCTAD, 2004

Top ten FDI host economies in 2000 (US$ mi)

Composition of the economy

Agriculture

Industry

Services

USA

0.9%

20.4%

78.6%

Netherlands

2.1%

23.9%

73.9%

Germany

0.9%

29.1%

70%

Argentina

9.5%

35.8%

54.7%

Brazil

8%

38%

54%

China

11.9%

48.1%

40%

State of British Cities (2006)

GDP per metropolitan

PPP (2005)

21 Randstad: 216

Nordzee
Campinas

Area: 8.313 Km2

Area: 8.051 Km2

c. 2.000 urbanised
50km

Amsterdam

75km

Utrecht
Den Haag
Rotterdam

S Atlantic

SPaulo
0

10

20

Santos

10

20

So Paulo in comparison with the

Randstad

The City-region

The Metropolitan Area

Metropolitan Area: 8.051 km2

Urbanised Area: app.
2.000 km2
Main Municipality:
1.500 km2

The Metropolitan Area

Airports and centralities

So Paulo in comparison with the

Randstad

Randstad-Holland

Sao Paulo Metropolitan

Possible contrast?

Possible contrast?

Possible contrast?

Amsterdam Zuidas

Amsterdam Centrum

Sao Paulo Centrum

Sao Paulo Berrini Marginal

Why So Paulo is there?

The Tordesillas Treaty 1494

In 1494, with the seal of the Pope, Portugal and Spain modestly divided
the world amongst them. Most of South and North America (then
unknown) fell out of the Portuguese share.

An Unimportant Colonial City

Rubber cycle 1890-1945

Sugarcane cycle
c.1530- 1640

Cacao cycle
c.1820-1920

Gold Cycle
c.1690- 1790
Coffee Cycle
1808-1929
In colonial times, S Paulo had very little importance.
First the sugar cane plantations in Pernambuco and then the gold digging
in Minas constituted the main colonial activities, until the arrival of coffee
plantations to the South East part of the country.

Number of
Indians in 2000

Estimate
number of
Indians in 1500

2007: c.175 million

African population
Sugarcane cycle
c.1530- 1640

Gold Cycle
c.1690- 1790
Cacao cycle
c.1820-1920

Coffee Cycle
1808-1929

1531: First sugar cane

engenho (factory)
1537:The Church declares
Amerindians human beings
1550: First African slaves
1559: Significant traffic of
slaves
1720: Prohibition of
Amerindian Slavery
Sugar cane cycle: 1.350.000
slaves
Gold cycle: 650.000
Coffee cycle: 250.000
Other activities (cotton,
tobacco, domestic labour:
1.100.000

1888

Slavery abolition:
(700.000 slaves)

TOTAL: c. 3.300.000

European Immigration

Total immigration of Europeans (estimate after 1850): >5-7 million

Brazil Total Population (2000 Census):

169.872.856

An Unimportant Colonial City

1750:
Pop 20.000

In 1822, Brazil got

independent from
Portugal. SP gained
some importance
when the Brazilian
Imperial court
chose to place a
Law Academy in
the city in 1827.

Picture showing Benedictine Monastery and

Church and the Faculty of Law in 1860

An unimportant Colonial city

An unimportant colonial city

Eastern central area of the city in 1892 (Largo do Bixiga). Market

colonial forms.

1850:The Coffee Revolution

Sao Paulo Railway Station (1892) is built with English

capitals.

1880:
Pop 31.000

The great coffee plantations

commercialise their
products in the city. The
coffee economy produces
the development of urban
activities, because it
demands a complex
organization of financing,
transport, commerce and
export.

European Immigration

1895
Pop 131.000
1900
Pop 239.820
Slavery abolished, it
was necessary to
have paid labour
force. European
and Japanese
immigrants come to
the city en masse.

Workers at Textile Factory around 1910.The factory belonged to Matarazzo family

The Black population is small in the city. Freed slaves establish in peripheral areas (later
districts of the city)

European Immigration
The population of the city grows enormously:
1895: pop. 130.000
(54%of which were foreigners).
1900: pop. 239.820

(growth of 84% in 5 years!)

1900: Almost half of the population speaks Italian.
Other: Spanish and Portuguese.
1905: First Syrian and Lebanese (50.000 Lebanese
until 1946)
1908: Fist Japanese (500.000 along the XX century)
1920: Armenians, Jewish, Germans, Polish, Russian

Pop in 1920: 579.000

New Urban Paradigms

Rua Direita. Central Core circa 1860.

New Urban Paradigms

c. 1895
In 1880 the
population
was 31.000

The capital
generated by
coffee was (for
the first time in
the history of
the country) reinvested in the
country itself. It
meant more
and more
coffee
plantations but
also urban
transformation.

1915
In 1920 the
population
was 579.000

L. Badaro street and

Dr Falcao st 1895 and 1915

New Urban Paradigms

The model for the

new architecture was
the French eclectic
style. Even the
simplest houses tried
to emulate its forms.
In the central core,
new services are
offered.
European workforce
provide the basis for
new consumption and
architectural patterns.

Industry and urban change

Workers in front of textiles factory c. 1900

Economic
progress brings
changes in urban
form, structure
and economic
bases. Small
industry begins
to appear in
order to tend to
the growing
agglomeration
necessities.

A new elite comes into view

Traditional Boarding School Des Oiseaux, c. 1900

Note Art Nouveau Style.The elite is composed by rich Portuguese
landowners and enriched Italian, German and Jewish families

A new elite comes into view

The construction of
a big opera house is
a sign of the elites
search for a more
urban and
sophisticated life
style. Perhaps the
biggest sign of
change in
mentalities.

Anhangabau 1914 Opera House

A new elite comes into view

Anhangaba Valley in 1915, with Opera House and Hotel

The elite seeks new spaces

Avenida Paulista c. 1902

The opening of
Aveninda Paulista,
some kilometers away
from the central core,
signified a major
change in urban
structure. At the time
of its inauguration, it
was considered a
faraway refuge for
the wealthy. The
names of families who
owned houses in the
Avenue shows not only
Portuguese landowners
(The Coffee Barons)
but also Italian,
German and Jewish
industrialists, lawyers
and traders.

The European city

Anhangaba Valley c. 1915

The European city

Central Cinema, c. 1916

The European city

Patriarch Place c. 1925

The European city

Patriarch Place in 1925.

The European city

Anhangaba Valley, 1927

The European City

Anhangaba Valley c. 1932

Central Business District

15 Novembro Street, c. 1915

Central Business District

15 de Novembro Street c. 1906

New urban equipment:

The Central Market

New City Market 1933 AE

New mentalities:
the urban man

In 1940 the
pop reached
1.32 million

In a country still
predominantly
agrarian, the
surge of a
metropolis
represented the
appearance of a
new kind of
mentality and
life style.

Sao Joao Avenue with Martinelli Building 1937

The urban man

Anhangabau Valley in 1929.

The urban man

Sao Jose Cinema in 1929

The urban man

Central Post Office Offices in 1938

Urban Problems

Tramway at Cathedral Square in 1937

Immigration: 2nd WW
1940:
Pop 1.32
million
In the 40s, the
city population
reaches its first
million.
Thousands of
refugees arrive
from Eastern
Europe (Poland,
Ukraine),
Germany (Jews,
but also Germans)
and Italian.
After 1950,
European
immigration
decreases.

Wedding at Italian Family in 1940 (Bela Vista)

After WW II:
New Urban Paradigm

Anhangabau Valley in 1949

The new
prominence of the
USA in the
international arena
shifts paradigms.
New urban models
come from the
North. The belief in
progress and the
Fordist model of
production asks for
new Urban Form
and Structure.
Beginning of
massive internal
migration.

After WW II:
New migration trends & new urbanity

Sao Joao Avenue 1951

1950
Pop: 2.19 m

After WW II:
New migration trends & new urbanity

So Joo Avenue (Rua Lbero Badar) 1952

After WW II: New Urban Paradigm

The adoption
of more and
more buses
instead of
tramways
allows the
sprawling of
the city to
distant
peripheries.
Newly arrived
migrants
establish
themselves in
those
peripheries.

Tram 55 and bus 74 in Casa Verde District, 1953

After WW II:
New Urban Paradigm

After WW II:
New Urban Paradigm

Anhangabau Av Prestes Maia c1950

After WW II:
New Urban Paradigm

Anhangabau Valley and Tiradentes Ave c. 1948

After WW II:
New Urban Paradigm

So Joo Avenue, Down Town, 1960s

Consequences of Rapid Growth

Immigration:
1960s Major Internal Migrations

Rubber cycle 1890-1945

Sugarcane cycle
c.1530- 1640

1960
Pop: 3.7 m

Cacao cycle
c.1820-1920

Gold Cycle
c.1690- 1790
Industrial Era

Coffee Cycle
1808-1929

1970
Pop: 5.9 m

Migration from old colonized areas in

the North-East of Brazil
Curiously, there
are not many
images of
Nordeste
immigrants
taken at that
time. These are
artistic
representations
of immigration.
Left: Immigrant
family by
Candido
Portinari.

Rural migration
Immigrant
family,
Candido
Portinari.

Retirantes

Candido Portinari

Population growth municipality SP

SP Urban Growth

Source: Meyer et al. 2004

Slums

Paraisopolis, the second biggest favela in Sao Paulo, houses approximately 60.000
people (Delft= 120.000).

SLUMS
Favelas are build on invaded land.
Shacks are built by each family with
improvised materials. The State was
absent from the space of the favela.
With time, inhabitants conquered
rights. They start improving their
shacks and soon the houses are built
with bricks and are connected (legally
or illegally) to electricity and water
supply. There is usually no sewage
system.
There are special programmes of
empowerment for the inhabitants.
Some of them focus on the land rights
and other on the infrastructure and
services available.

Military Rule (1964-1986)

In 1964, while a
social democrat was
president, a military
coup detat took
place. Elections
were abolished. The
mayor of the city
and all fist echelon
staff would be
indicated by the
Brasilia. Institutions
were shattered.
Planning the city
became a matter of
social control.

Cathedral Square in 1969

1930- 1973:
Economical Growth
through import substitution policies
building up an internal market
through:
. Direct public investment in heavy industry
and infrastructure (State owned) +
. Subsidies for strategic sectors +
. Strong labour: workers are protected:
Unions are strong where industry is.
(Workers are weak where old colonial and
post colonial structures subsist)

1973: The oil crisis

Explosion of External Debt (International Interest Rates Rocket)
Growth is based on increase of debt + corruption + bad management
Inflation (directly linked to the oil prices raises)
Depression of commodity prices (in Brazil: resulted in internal migrations)

1979:The Debt Interest Rates crisis

Growth comes to a sudden hault. :
-25% industry
-20% unemployment

1980s: The lost decade

Lost of investment capacity by the State
Recurrence to increasing international DEBT
Hyperinflation
Chronic unemployment

70 and 80s:
Bad Management Environmental Decay

70 and 80s:
Bad Management
Social polarization

70 and 80s:
Bad Management
Social polarization

1970
Pop: 5.94 mi
1980
Pop: 8.49 mi

80s: congestion
The centre decadence

Avenida Paulista: The new centrality

Avenida Paulista: Elites go West

Paulista Avenue

Avenida Paulista in the beginning

of the 20th century and now

MASP
Art Museum of Sao Paulo

Decaying living
conditions and
squatting in the
Centre

Meanwhile in the old centre:

Sao Vito Building

Sao Vito Building

The building houses 510

families or 1200 people

Floors: 28

(25 type-floors, auditorium and

grand salon in the last floor, 15
commercial units in the first
floor and 13 in the second
floor)

624 apartments

Only 30% of dwellers pay

administration costs monthly

423 apartments are illegaly

occupied

201 apartments are occupied

by owners

Typical Floor Plan

28 m2

1.2 m

Sao Vito Building

Sao Vito Building

Sao Vito Building

" Sao Vito , May 2003, a vertical condominium occupied by 1200 poor
people. External View. (c) Contrasto

Sao Vito Building

Internal View of an apartment. May 2003.

Sao Vito Building

Internal View of an apartment. May 2003.

Sao Vito Building

Sao Vito Building

Edifcio So Vito is a 112-meter,

27-story former residential building,
located in So Paulo, Brazil.
It was completed in 1959.
Throughout its existence, the building later
deteriorated and gained a reputation as So Paulo's
biggest vertical cortio (slum).
The city expropriated and evacuated the building in 2004
Source: Wikipedia.

Some Social-Spatial Indicators

Homogeneous
Zones

90s Emigration:
Centre looses almost 20% of pop.
Causes:
1.

Low birth rate (national

trend)

2.

Deconcentration of industrial
production

3.

Disappointment with lifestyle/

housing/economic
opportunities

4.

Cost of life (plots are cheaper

in outside municipalities)

In the 90s, the population of

the city decreased in 600.000

Human Development Compared

Irregular land occupation

Area covered by
irregular
occupations is
338,8 km2, or
22,5% of the
total area of the
municipality
(1500 km2)

Social Vulnerability Scale

% of the wealth of the
poorest 50% in relation
to the richest 50%

No serious vulnerability
Low vulnerability
Middle vulnerability
High vulnerability
Very high vulnerability
Parks, green areas,
dams and inhabited
places

Favela Paraisopolis

Paraisopolis
Favelas

Other Favelas:
Human and Ecological Hazard

Old and New Centralities

Large Urban Projects

Agua Branca OP

Berrini OP

Sao Paulo Master Plan: Urban Operations

Centro OP

Faria Lima OP

Urban Operation Faria Lima

Total Area: 450 hectars (4,500,000 m2.)

Cost: US$ 150 million (1995)
US$ 120 mi for land expropriation, necessary to cut through
consolidated neighbourhoods

Avenida Faria Lima

50+ Insurance Comanies Operating in Brazil

The New Corporate Axis

The New Corporate Axis

The New Corporate Axis does not have all functions typical to
central areas. Its form is linear, an axis along the Pinheiros River,
including some important transversal avenues.

The New Corporate Axis

The New Corporate Axis

New Corporate Axis

New Corporate Axis

New Corporate Axis

Corporate Axis

New Corporate Axis

FAU USP
Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism
University of Sao Paulo

New Solutions for the Periphery

New solutions for peripheries

The Municipality PT-Labour Party), tries to intervene in the peripheries by installing massive
education, culture and sports equipment, all gathered in large complexes known as CEU. There are about 12 of
them already.

New solutions for peripheries

New solutions for peripheries

Jardim Pantanal, Tiete River Bassin. Meyer: 267

Old Centre Revitalisation

Meanwhile in the Old Centre:

Central Area Revitalisation

Downtown Revitalisation

Downtown Revitalisation
COPAN
building,
designed
by Oscar
Niemeyer
in the late
50`s

Fabrica Pompeia
Architect Lina Bo Bardi

Pinacoteca
Architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha

Pinacoteca

Pinacoteca

Pinacoteca

Pinacoteca

Sala Sao Paulo

Architects
Nelson Dupr & Ismael Sol

Downtown Revitalisation

Centro Viejo

Centro Viejo

New Peripheral Centralities

Guarulhos Centre (International Airport of Sao Paulo)

New Peripheral Centralities

Alphaville (Edge City Development)

New internal migrations:

Conformation of a macro-metropolis

A Global Macrometropolis

Questions? Please write to Roberto Rocco

r.c.rocco@tudelft.nl
Chair Spatial Planning and Strategy
Department of Urbanism
Bouwkunde
TU Delft, The Netherlands

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