PERIPHERIES OF INVISIBLE WALLS: unequal (im)mobility and spatial segregation by class and race in the metropolis of São Paulo

• Grant number: 24/18044-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: January 10, 2026
• End date: April 09, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Barbosa da Silva
• Grantee: Ricardo Barbosa da Silva
• Host Investigator: Jovan Lewis
• Host Institution: Instituto das Cidades. Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Zona Leste. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States

Abstract

The most current growth of the metropolises of the global south has revealed intense spatial inequalities and urban poverty on its peripheries. In the metropolis of São Paulo, typical of a peripheral country like Brazil, this is a reality still quite evident, but without consensus in the most recent academic research. Thus, this research project aims to understand the formation of the peripheries of invisible walls based on the unequal mobility and spatial segregation of the poorest and blacks in the urban peripheries. To this end, this project is based on the triangular methodology that aims to integrate quantitative and qualitative approaches and the use of smartphone applications. In the quantitative approach, two data sources with different zoning areas will be combined, through the carroyage method. In the IBGE's Demographic Census, the empirical basis of the sample weighting areas from the years 1991, 2000, 2010, and 2022 will be used. On the other hand, in the Origin-Destination Survey of the São Paulo Subway, the OD zones will be used, the smallest units of areas of this survey, in the years 1987, 1997, 2007 and 2017, as a way to analyze the condition of mobility and immobility of people by social classes and race/color from the territory of the peripheries. In the qualitative approach, it is intended to conduct four social cartography workshops, aimed at understanding people's urban experiences of unequal mobilities and spatial segregation in the peripheries. Finally, these participants will be invited to install an app on their smartphones, during a period of one week, as a way to analyze their daily displacements and permanences. The expected results intend to demonstrate the invisible walls in the urban peripheries of São Paulo, historically founded through unequal conditions of mobility and spatial segregation.