Social Housing in Nova Luz Project: Exclusion and Popular Resistance

Abstract

A dynamic process of public and private investments in São Paulo illustrates how the fluctuations in real estate market trace urban development. It is an emblematic example of how the development of suburban centres has driven away public investment and interest from the city centre. Reduced prices, proximity of employment and access to public transportation and equipment mean that a portion of urban population would normally chose to live in the city centre, even if submitted to poor housing conditions. An important urban instrument called the Special Zone of Social Interest (ZEIS) has the purpose of ensuring urbanized and well located land for the low income population as well.