Centro de Estudos da Metrópole

A set of studies developed at the Center for Metropolis Studies (CEM-Cepid/Fapesp) resulted in the book “Stolen Cars: A Journey Through São Paulo's Urban Conflict”, organized by Gabriel Feltran, professor at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) and researcher at the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (Cebrap). The book has just been released by Wiley Editora and is part of the Series in Urban and Social Change (SUSC), linked to the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR), one of the most important international journals in terms of research on the urban .

Based on a five-year ethnographic study, the book brings the results of a research in which Gabriel Feltran, along with his team, followed the journeys of five stolen cars in São Paulo, their owners and their thieves, to examine how the patterns and mechanisms of urban inequalities and violence are reproduced.

The publication highlights how everyday life is intertwined with structural urban transformations and uses an ethnographic narrative to show how urban development produces various forms of lawlessness and violent crime. Each chapter discusses a specific topic, including the distinctions between violent and non-violent theft or the role of national borders in linking illegal and legal economies. As the publisher points out, the book provides an original theoretical framework for a rarely studied urban and transnational supply chain, with empirical data and a combination of different methodologies to demonstrate these mechanisms.