Residencial Espanha and the Parque dos Búfalos: the conflict between nature, housing policy and urban in São Paulo's metropolitan area

• Grant number: 18/22702-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2019
• End date: March 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: Simone Scifoni
• Grantee: Giovanne Russo Dell Aquila
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The construction of the Residencial Espanha, an undertaking of the Minha Casa Minha Vida program, in an adjacent area to the Parque dos Búfalos (at the margins of the Billings reservoir) in the south zone of São Paulo raises questions about the conflict between urban and nature in the metropolitan area. The understanding of these contradictory processes has the potential of revealing the housing policy's guidelines in Brazil, as well as its consequences and marks left on the geographical space, especially on the urban space. From the inquiry of the environmental legislation, cartographic products and the bibliography produced about the area of study, a repertoire will be built for the analysis of the conflict placed by this public policy that affects not only the population from the district of Pedreira, city of São Paulo, but also all the metropolitan region that depends on the quality of the Billings system's water for its replenishment. The occupation in the margins of springs in the metropolitan area of São Paulo, historically initiated by the 1960/70's, happens until these days and its conjuncture allows conceiving the public policies and environmental legislation in a critical and justified way.