Gated residential spaces in southern Ribeirão Preto/SP and The domination of mercantile capital in the process of urban expansion in the 2000s

Abstract

In this paper, the results of a case study undertaken in the city of Ribeirão Preto/SP is discussed, more particularly on the real estate production in the city’s Southern zone, which has witnessed the fastest expansion in the last few years and has concentrated high-income families and services in gated residential spaces. The paper is aimed at identifying and analyzing the urban production and expansion process and to what extent the actors involved are related to dynamics of valorization of local capital and property owners, or to external capital articulated to broader patterns, as it is recently being discussed in the literature on financialization of urban space. The analysis is structured around three theoretical perspectives, elaborated on the basis of literature research, collection of empirical data and interviews. The first theoretical perspective is related to the important role of local mercantile capital in understanding the territorial appropriation process; the second theoretical persopective is influenced by the regulation school political economy, and it analyzes the legislation on land subdivision and on transformation of rural into urban land; and the third theoretical perspective is focused on the structure of housing provision, considering the relationships among actors, particularly landowners, developers and the state. The production of gated residential spaces (particularly subdivisions) in the southern zone of the city is mainly related to logics of local property owners and capital and their relationship with the state rather than the penetration of finance capital into the production of city-space.

Keywords:
Ribeirão Preto; Gated residential spaces; Mercantile capital; Urban expansion; Financialization