VULNERABILITY OF POPULATIONS LIVING IN PRECARIOUS SETTLEMENTS OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF SÃO PAULO

• Grant number: 18/05633-5
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): July 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): February 01, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Physical Geography
• Principal researcher: Ligia Vizeu Barrozo
• Grantee: Mirela Barros Serafim
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/20432-9 - Slum health in the municipality of São Paulo: development of a health vulnerability index and disease and mortality risk calculation for low population intra-urban areas, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

Half the world's population became urban in 2008. Projections for the period of 2007 to 2050 indicate a worldwide increase of 2.5 billion people. Population growth will increase urban inequities in megacities of the developing countries. In these locations, the growth will be represented in large part by residents of precarious settlements. Most studies regarding these areas adopt a dichotomous classification of the space in areas with presence or absence of precarious settlements. However, this classification hides the variability of vulnerabilities within these areas. Furthermore, it assumes the premise that the most vulnerable populations live essentially in the precarious settlements with the worst infrastructure conditions, which is contested by the international literature. The municipality of São Paulo is a good example of a megacity of a developing country with a strong presence of precarious settlements, where 11% of the population lived in 2010. Public policies for these places were quite expressive in the last two decades, promoting an increase in the heterogeneity of services and infrastructure. In this sense, this project aims to model the relationships between different dimensions of vulnerability (socioeconomic, demographic, environmental and health) in the municipality of São Paulo and the infrastructure precarity by utilizing a place-based approach. The relationships will be analyzed between sectoral units of the Census for the whole municipality and for the precarious settlements, exclusively. The proposed methodology is based on the development of a vulnerability index combined with Principal Component Analysis and a gradient of infrastructure precarity. The results will be analyzed by means of nonspatial statistics and spatial statistics - if applicable. The study can support measures to improve services and resources for vulnerable populations.