Open spaces appropriation in low income housing areas: using, occupying and invading

Abstract

The standardization of urban design of the housing complexes built in São Paulo Metropolitan Region since the late sixties, and their clear contrast with the traditional tissue of the rest of the city have difficulted the understanding of the urban space, rendering it unreadable and unfamiliar. It is possible to observe that the users of this kind of urban space have reacted to these problems. The people invades the public space and modifies its structure. All the effort made during the conception process of the projects to create wide open spaces in those housing complexes is mined by the regular users. New structures are built and the process installed in the situation defines new limits.