The article is based on the results of research carried out for doctoral thesis, and aims to characterize and analyze the production process of informal housing areas in the metropolis of Curitiba, between the decades of 1990 and 2000. From different socio-spatial indicators, it shows that the studied period was marked by the expansion and intensification of production of these spaces throughout the metropolitan agglomeration. It was also verified that this growth was not homogeneous, differing according to the types of settlements, their ways of production, and the social agents involved in the process. Research proves that the dynamics observed in the metropolis of Curitiba resembles the same observed in other Brazilian cities in the period, characterized by the expansion of the difficulty of inserting the low-income classes in the formal housing market, the concentration of housing needs in the income range up to three minimum wages, and the emergence of new forms of access to housing in informal spaces.
Informal spaces for housing; Metropolis; Housing needs; Metropolis of Curitiba