Mapping the Illegal City and Its Urban Processes: A case study of the Lapa district (1920-1940)

• Grant number: 25/04821-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Luis Antonio Coelho Ferla
• Grantee: Raony Augusto de Almeida
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/03700-7 - Pauliceia 2.0: collaborative mapping of the History of São Paulo (1870-1940) - phase 2, AP.ESCIENCE.R

Abstract

The proposed research is part of a larger project, Pauliceia 2.0, an online platform that aims at the collaborative mapping of the city of São Paulo. One of the objectives of the research is to enhance the platform by expanding its historical address location capabilities to include the so-called "illegal city" of São Paulo during the period of urban-industrial modernization (1870-1940). To achieve this, the research will use as a case study the Lapa district, a peripheral region of the city, in its urbanization process (1920-1940), relying on documentary and cartographic sources such as historical maps, municipal laws, official acts, press records, and property registers. The aim is to understand the historical dynamics of occupation in the Lapa territory and to develop a spatial-temporal database of addresses, which may serve as a methodological model for other peripheral neighborhoods to be added to the platform's geolocator, recognizing their historical and social relevance. The research, therefore, falls within the field of Digital Humanities, using Historical Geographic Information Systems (Historical GIS) as a practice and reflecting on the potentialities of its use in Public Urban History.