Countys Parks in São Paulo in the 21st Century

Abstract

In the one hundred years between 1893, when a very modest bureau of the municipality of São Paulo started taking care of its urban green areas, and 1993, when the highest level in the municipal administration hierarchy – a Secretaria –– was created to deal with green matters, factors that influence in public parks production has changed a lot. Throughout the 20th Century, public parks used to be located in plots of land that urban developers were obliged to give to the municipality, or in plots of land that the municipality bought for this special purpose. Nowadays, new administrative organization and devices are available to create urban parks. This paper verifies the most recent São Paulo municipality actions in park provision and the means used to achieve them, aiming to assess if they correspond to government initiatives or are rather reactive answers to real estate market actions.