Sistema de espaços livres e espacialidades da esfera pública em favela: os casos de Paraisópolis, da Linha e do Nove em São Paulo

Abstract

The favelas constitute a consolidated reality in the city of Sao Paulo, concentrating more than 10% of its total population. And the open space system inside the informal city represents great investigative potential in regard to its physical characteristics, to the articulation established between public and private spaces and, mostly, to the public and ordinary practices developed inside it. With this aim, the article selects three favelas in the city of Sao Paulo as case studies: the favela de Paraisopolis, the second biggest community in the municipality, which is located in the Morumbi neighbourhood with around 100.000 inhabitants in an area of 100 acres; the favela da Linha and the favela do Nove, which together occupy less than 2 acres in the General Stores Company of Sao Paulo (Ceagesp) neighborhood, concentrating 630 families. Based on fieldwork, the article shows how the spatial and public dynamics work in these spaces and how they could help us discuss the open space system of the whole city.