The study estimated the precarious settlements population in 2010 in 3.8 millions dwellers.

Between 2013 July and August, CEM researchers concluded a study executed for the Foundation for Administrative Development (FUNDAP), requested by EMPLASA (São Paulo State Company of Metropolitan Planning) and CDHU (Company of Housing and Urban Development), entitled “Diagnosis of precarious settlements in São Paulo macro-metropolis cities”. This Transference Study, available on CEM website, indicates, among other findings, a raise on the number of precarious settlements in Santos and Campinas and a decrease on this number in São Paulo.

This is an update of a study previously developed for the Ministry of Cities, which created its own estimation methodology, using data from the 2000 Census. This time the goal of the study was to identify and to characterize precarious settlements areas in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, in Campinas, in the Metropolitan Region of Santos, in Paraíba Valley and North shore and in the Urban Cluster of Jundiaí. The study used data from the 2010 Census.

The study estimated the precarious settlements population in 2010 in all these places in 3.8 millions dwellers. This means, in a proportional perspective, that the population of this kind of settlement raised from 13.5% to 14.#, although every place has presented a different dynamic. For example, while this number decreased from 15% to 14.5% in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, it has raised from 9.9% to 14.4% in Campinas and from 18.1% to 20.5% in the Metropolitan Region of Santos.

The first phase of this research has had the following goals:

1. The calculation of estimates and cartographies of precarious and subnormal sectors in intra-urban spaces of the four Metropolitan Regions in São Paulo and the Urban Cluster of Jundiaí;
2. The analysis of the administrative management of the 113 cities which compose the Macro-metropolis of São Paulo from the study “Administrative capacities of Brazilian cities for Housing Policy”.

The second phase goals were:

1. To precisely locate the precarious settlements in the cities of the Macro-metropolis of São Paulo, on a census tracts level, discussing the localization of the previously quantified and characterized settlements;
2. To calculate estimates and to create cartographies of subnormal and precarious sectors in the intra-urban spaces of Macro-metropolis of São Paulo cities, comparatively between 2000 and 2010. This activity uses data from 2000 and 2010 Census to compare the presence of subnormal and precarious sectors in intra-urban spaces of the selected cities. From these estimates, the study was able to evaluate both the increase or the decrease of the precariousness in a precise geographic perspective;
3. To analyze the administrative management of the 113 cities from the study “Administrative capacities of Brazilian cities for Housing Policy”. The analysis considered three perspectives: the evolution of the tools for these policies management throughout the 2000 decade; the cities spendings in urbanism and housing; and programs adopted by the cities and strategies for intergovernmental cooperation.

The study was based on the the Census information, from the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

Access to both reports in  the Research / Transference Studies area of this website> The study was exectuted by a team of CEM researchers: Eduardo Marques (coordinator), Mariana Bittar, Donizete Cazolato, Edgard Fusaro and Daniel Waldvogel.