Expropriations in contemporary São Paulo: property, real estate-financial complex and dispossessions in popular territories

Author(s)

Débora Grama Ungaretti

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU/SBI)
• Defense date: 2024-05-24

Examining board members

Raquel Rolnik; Giovanna Bonilha Milano; Cibele Saliba Rizek; Paula Freire Santoro; Orlando Alves dos Santos Junior

• Advisor: Raquel Rolnik

Abstract

Two processes have been identified in urban studies as forms of State engagement in the transformation of urban space within the current framework of the accumulation regime: on one hand, the mobilization of land in the process of financialization; on the other hand, the violent processes of displacements of popular territories, constituting a form of dispossession. This dissertation describes how land expropriation acts as a point of connection for these processes, playing an important role in mobilizing the state apparatus in contexts of urban restructuring. The trajectories of two territories in the extreme north and central area of São Paulo demonstrate how, through the mobilization of property, expropriation drives the forced displacement of occupants, opening not only fronts for the expansion of the real estate-financial complex but also for land appropriations that shape new popular territories. By proposing a trajectory of expropriation in Brazil in dialogue with critical property theory, we argue that we are facing a territorial control dispositif that updates property regimes into a coloniality trap. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 19/09049-9 - Eminent domain, the real estate financial complex and despossessions in contemporary São Paulo
• Grantee: Débora Grama Ungaretti
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)