Curitibas metropolitan area a study based on the intra-urban space

Author(s)

Angela Seixas Pilotto

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU/SBI)
• Defense date: 2010-05-03

Examining board members

Flávio José Magalhães Villaça; João Sette Whitaker Ferreira; Rosa Maria Moura da Silva

• Advisor: Flávio José Magalhães Villaça

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to comprehend the intra-urban space structuring process of Curitibas metropolitan area, understanding its formation, the role of each intra-urban structure element center, subcenters, residential neighborhoods according to social classes, industrial areas and the relations among them, the most significant socio-spatial processes and space structuring agents and forces. Therefore, Flávio Villaças theoretical and methodological approach on the analysis of the basic urban structure of Brazilian metropolises was taken as base for this research. It starts from the hypothesis that the intra-urban space structuring process of Brazilian cities is fundamentally the result of determinations of social, economic and ideological nature, historically interacting with the material space through the real estate market. Planning - and even State\'s action - would consequently have a minor role in this structuring. Accordingly, there is a process of differentiated appropriation of the urban space, in which social classes dispute the best locations and spatial advantages. This process is linked to urban segregation, which, in turn, allows control and domination of the intra-urban space by the upper income classes. Firstly, the research analyzed how the intra-urban space of Curitibas metropolitan area was historically constituted, emphasizing the production of urban locations and its relation with accessibility and real-estate appreciation. Based on this first approach, the most significant socio-spatial processes were emphasized. Thus, the following have been analyzed: (i) the center of Curitiba: the direction of its growth and expansion, its verticalization process, its abandonment by the upper income classes, its popularization and formation of a new center; (ii) the Structural Sectors (or structural axes): the verticalization process and relation with the intra-urban space; and finally, (iii) urban segregation, that enabled the connection of the elements exposed along the research and the understanding that they are part of the same process. Along the text, the research sought to demonstrate the disputes among intra-urban space elements and the articulation of interests among social agents, especially the upper income classes, the State and the real estate market. (AU)