Socio-spatial fragmentation and consumption in the periphery of São Paulo

Abstract

Socio-spatial fragmentation is a multidimensional and complex process. The polysemy that accompanies the word fragmentation, from the international scale, at the geopolitical level, to the scale of the city, valuing the
social, political, economic, or cultural aspects, shows the breadth of the process but, also, requires conceptual and methodological attention. In this article, we analyze the process of socio-spatial fragmentation in urban space from the perspective of the inhabitants of the periphery. They settled and remained in the spatial order of the previous period, the center-periphery, and faced the challenges
of integration and coexistence in the fragmented city. The empirical basis of the analysis is supported by interviews with residents of the neighborhood
of Pimentas, in the city of Guarulhos, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Two urban scales, the city, and the metropolis, are seen from the spatial choices made to consume goods and services. This analysis contemplates the relations between peripheral condition and consumption, between consumption and centrality, and, finally, the construction of the idea of a center in the periphery.