Urban Phenomena in São Paulo’s Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Appropriating Local Spatio-Temporalities

Abstract

The article seeks to investigate urban phenomena in São Paulo’s 19th and 20th centuries by utilizing Henri Lefebvre’s concept of appropriation. Thus I focus on the relations between urban space(s) and its inhabitants, and the analysis of the city – usually perceived as space – becomes a spatio-temporal and relational analysis regarding dynamic practices, conflicts, etc. understood as urban phenomena. How did the inhabitants appropriate São Paulo? May we state special forms by comparing it to other Latin American cities of former times? How did the migrants arriving at the end of 19th century change old forms of living in the city? I conclude with remarks and critics on the potential of using the concept of appropriation in urban studies.