O adensamento populacional é necessário, mas verticalização precisa ter limites e respeitar a memória e o ambiente de São Paulo

Abstract

This paper seeks to show that increasing the population density of São Paulo is absolutely necessary to meet the current and future housing needs of the Metropolitan Region, but that the verticalization and real estate transformations essential to accommodate more people in the same space need to have limits and cannot destroy cultural, environmental and urban references in the city. The study shows that both densification and protection are considered strategic objectives of the 2014 Strategic Master Plan (and were not changed by the 2023 review), but their implementation has not guaranteed compatibility between these guidelines, despite instruments having been created for this purpose. In addition to carrying out a conceptual and empirical analysis of this central issue for city planning, the article brings together well-founded proposals for São Paulo’s urban policy in the coming decades, seeking to present suggestions to ensure greater effectiveness in urban regulation and in the strategic actions of the Master Plan. The main focus of the article is centered on the search to guarantee better conditions for population density, considering the housing needs of the low--income population and reinforcing protection mechanisms for neighborhoods, properties, spaces, places and uses that are relevant references for the city.