Patricia Rodrigues Samora

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Firefighters didn’t expect to find hundreds of homeless families squatting in a São Paulo building that caught fire. REUTERS/Leonardo Benassatto

Deadly highrise fire in Brazil spotlights city’s housing crisis and the squatter movement it spawned

Patricia Rodrigues Samora, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas (PUC-Campinas)

Hundreds of squatters were living in a vacant police station in São Paulo when fire broke out on May 1, killing up to four people. The residents were part of Brazil’s nationwide homeless movement.
Brutal police raids on São Paulo’s so-called ‘Crackland’ have shocked the city and paved the way for redevelopment of this prime piece of real estate. Paulo Whitaker/Reuters

At what cost gentrification? São Paulo expels drug users and razes buildings to ‘revitalise Crackland’

Patricia Rodrigues Samora, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas (PUC-Campinas)

Luz, a once-elegant 19th-century neighbourhood in downtown São Paulo, is prime real estate. But redevelopment means clearing out a homeless encampment known as “Crackland”.
Brazil’s favelas are famous, but so are its ambitious efforts to bring roads, water, electricity, and land rights to its informal urban settlements. eflon/flickr

Is this the end of slum upgrading in Brazil?

Patricia Rodrigues Samora, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas (PUC-Campinas)

For decades, Brazil has worked to improve conditions in its poorest neighbourhoods: building roads, drainage, lighting, and safer housing. Will budget cuts end its ambitious slum-upgrading efforts?

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