Slum Upgrading: A Challenge as Big as the City of São Paulo

Abstract

Eleven million people live in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, 50 percent of them in what is considered "sub­ normal" housing-squatter settlements, slums, and illegal land subdivisions. They suffer from overcrowding, unhealthy buildings, unsafe environments, lack of basic infrastructure and amenities, and costly public transportation. Elisabete França, São Paulo's deputy secretary for social housing from 2005 to 2012, discusses the city's successful new approaches in public housing and slum upgrading.