Transformation of the urban periphery and new forms of inequality in Brazilian cities: a view on the recent changes in housing production

Abstract

This ar ticle’s objective is to discuss recent transformations in the periphery of Brazil’s largest cities, considering the expansion of real estate in these territories, strongly supported by the Government’s housing program Minha Casa Minha Vida. Using historical and theoretical analyses, we demonstrate the shift in the primacy of the contradiction between capital and labor, dominated by industrial capital, towards the primacy of an urban contradiction, dominated by financial capital. Our hypothesis is that the appropriation of the periphery has consolidated into an essential strategy in the amplification of gains and in the expansion of real estate. This strategy of capital appreciation seems to impose new forms of inequality, which we have attempted to explore here.