Contradictions of the compact city: critical reflections fromthe contemporary logics of space production in São Paulo

Abstract

In view of the global ecological and climate crisis, policies aimed at promoting compact cities have been reiterated at the international level. They, according to these policies, would bring socio-environmental gains such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by reducing motorized travel. Such consensuses, however, end up obscuring the logic of space production and the contradictory interests that involve densification, especially in terms of the intensification of real estate production, which is not directly associated with the democratization of territories well-endowed with adequate infrastructure. Based on the above framework, the text problematizes the dominant conception of compact city from the perspective of contemporary logics of space production, illuminating the contradictions that involve the centrality of real estate in a neoliberal context. We adopt a dialectical approach as a perspective, seeking to understand reality by analyzing its contradictions. In addition to a literature and documentary review, the case of São Paulo is mobilized as an empirical experience, in which adopting densification policies proved to be insufficient in resolving socio-environmental problems.