São Paulo, the unsustainable Metropolis – how can we overcome this reality?

Abstract

The Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, composed of 39 municipalities and with a population of more than 19 million inhabitants, is a fragile and complex ecosystem. The “unsustainability” that characterizes the pattern of metropolitan urbanization features the prevalence of a process of expansion and occupation of intra-urban spaces that, in most cases, represents a dramatic reality: low quality of life for large sectors of the population. The duality of the cities is expressed by the growth of the urban illegality that constitutes it, exacerbating the socio-environmental problems that are concentrated in urban spaces with precarious urbanization and differentiated access to public investments. It is also characterized by a disorderly occupation resulting from the lack of a logic of collaborative governance and from the unpreparedness of public officials to face complex situations, as is the case in very populated and conurbated regions within the metropolis.