Globalization and the built environment in metropolitan São Paulo

Abstract

This study investigates the process of globalization over the past decades as a process of technological progress in computer science and communication and as transformation in the world economic order. It identifies the political and economic causes of globalization and their impact on the social sphere of developing nations. In past decades social inequality has widened in these countries and their large cities. This article also identifies lifestyle changes in the city of São Paulo and their consequences in urban land occupation and use. We see a growing social and spatial polarization within the urban building environment. There is an inner private space, isolated from the public space by barriers that render public access difficult, thereby promoting social segregation. In metropolitan São Paulo private space is gaining ground on public space, with negative impacts.