SOME PICTURES FROM ABOVE

These pictures were taken from the book São Paulo Metrópole, by Regina Meyer, Marta Dora Grostein (she was with us during our visit to Cantinho do Céu) and Ciro Biderman. They give us a different perspective about the streets and alleys of São Paulo's informal settlements.

Cantinho do Céu and Jardim Gaivota: informal, poor and precarious occupation on the southern part of São Paulo, an area that should be preserved for its environmental fragility and strategic importance for the whole metropolitan area.

Cantinho do Céu: the strip which will be transformed in a linear park on the Billings reservoir shore through a slum upgrading program. On the back, the power lines that separate that community from the rest of the (informal) city.

Jardim Pantanal on the eastern part of the municipality of São Paulo: note how it's settled on the Tietê river lowland area of environmental protection (APA-Tietê), which for many years was a problem for the residents who had to get along with the floods every year. This is one of the poorest slums in São Paulo, and lacks all kinds of basic urban services and regular infra-structure.

Paraisópolis-Morumbi: the worldwide famous contrast between the rich neighborhood and the poor and informal huge slum. Physical proximity combined with extreme social distance. It’s (hardly) possible to observe the original regular grid that crosses the highly dense settlement.