STUDY OF GATED COMMUNITIES IN THE CITY OF...

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STUDY OF GATED COMMUNITIES IN THE CITY OF CAÇAPAVA, SP: NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND TYPOLOGIES

MONIQUE BRUNA SILVA DO CARMO

SANDRA MARIA FONSECA DA COSTA

Address: Universidade do Vale do Paraíba Av SHishima Hifumi, 2911 – São José dos Campos, SP – 12244-525 e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Since the late 1960s, new forms of urbanization were created in Brazil. These forms are characterized as high stand architecture, which is usually located in areas far from the city center, and with accessibility. Stocks of these new forms increase urban social and spatial segregation, creating the "fortified enclaves", also known as condominiums. This occupation makes the urban settlement occurs dispersed and isolates its residents off the real city. Considering these aspects, this article aims to study the growth of condominiums in the medium city of Caçapava, located in São Paulo, and to propose a typology of theses enclaves. We assume these condominiums are not homogenous in terms of characteristics and process of emerging. In this sense, we analyze dominant features, process of emergence of such new forms, urban structuring agents that act directly in this process of spatial fragmentation. These new forms of urbanization in the city of Caçapava are consequences of the metropolization process of Sao Paulo, and the establishment of large industries in the Paraiba Valley, mainly after 1960. We mapped these new developments in order to understand the reasons that caused these processes.

INTRODUCTION

According to Caldeira (2000) gated communities has been attracting an increasing share of the population, by selling well-being, status, exclusivity, and security. Fear of violence has been another factor responsible for the proliferation of gated communities. This model of living originated in North American and has intensified in South America. Since the 1990s, this model has become increasingly complex in Brazil. This new expansion brought with it new socio-economic disparities also in the state of São Paulo, turning midsized cities into centers of real estate development.

The location of gated communities is another factor that stands out because they are increasingly extending over areas that were considered rural or farther away from the chaos of the city center. According to Caldeira (2000), isolation and distance from the city center and intense urban life are believed to provide a better lifestyle. This lifestyle is characterized not only by the new standard of

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C i t i e s , n a t i o n s a n d r e g i o n s i n p l a n n in g h i s t o r y

housing but also a new status in society. The proliferation of gated communities in urban areas is a result of circumstances such as urban violence, and these fortified enclaves confer status to their inhabitants.

Recently, urban growth has occurrence by spreading from the urban center into once rural regions or low density urban areas. The space has been reorganized with new characteristics and types of housing, such as what occurred in the city of Caçapava, located in the state of São Paulo, Brazil.

An important factor in Caçapava is the emergence of condominiums (gated communities) along the President Dutra Highway, which connects the two largest cities in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo). This shows the new spatial configuration that is emerging in the Paraíba Valley, specifically in the studied region of Caçapava Municipality. These forms are altering its urban structure fragmenting urban space and segregating social classes. Walls and technological security devices separate people with greater purchasing power from groups deemed undesirable.

In this sense the focus of this paper is to discuss and understand the emergence and increase in fortified enclaves (gated communities) that occurred in the midsized city of Caçapava, located at the state of São Paulo, which experience urban expansion and proliferation of these enclaves between 1984 and 2010. Our purpose is also to locate these developments near the President Dutra Highway as a new form of real estate development.

The spatial dimension of the work was carried out on data collected for analytical development, conducted as an undergraduate research project that was funded by FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation).

Within these perspectives the methodology of this research was establish following some steps. First, we mapped the urban growth of Caçapava from 1984 to 2010. This mapping was elaborated using TM (Thematic Mapper) images obtained in 1984, 1991, 2000, and 2010 by satellite Landsat-5, and provided by INPE (Space Research Institute of Brazil). These images were geometrically corrected by assigning cartographic coordinates, using Arc-Map 9.1, a geographical information system. The expansion of the city of Caçapava was mapped by delimitating the urban area in the images, as a polygon. This procedure permitted to calculate the urban expansion occurred during this period, in terms of square kilometers.

After this calculating the urban expansion we mapped the gated communities using these images, for monitoring the emergence of them and calculating the area occupied by these developments since 1984, to better understand and visualize the results.

We also classified the gated communities in typologies to verify if there are differences between these developments, according the methodology suggested by Silva (2011). Using the gated communities mapping produced we elaborated a data base considering four characteristics to each development: size of the lots, existence of green areas, density of occupation, and distance of the gated communities to shopping centers. These characteristics were scored assigned to each class: 0 was assigned to the criterion considered bad (absence or inconsistency of its existence) and 5 very good on those aspects that are discussed in the literature and should be presented in a fortified enclave,


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especially in relation to quality of life of its residents. An arithmetic average were calculated for each development, considering the four characteristics and the gated communities were grouped in five classes of typologies, being: the first group received the average 0.75 to 1.0; the second group received an average 1.25 to 1.5 and the third group of 1.75, 2.0 and 2.25 and the fourth group was given the average 2.5 to 3.0, and the fifth group received an average 4.5. These five classes expresses structured differences we can observe in the gated communities mapped, as showed in the results.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Maricato (1997) pointed out that housing is linked to the price, ie, the location or the structure of housing depends on its commercial value. Every location, accessibility, and public service have a price which is always linked to the location of the urban expansion. Urban growth, which intensified with industrialization, caused the expansion of commercial areas and urban sprawl into areas previously considered rural or low density urban. These areas have been reorganized with new features and different types of housing, facilitating the development of new production methods in the city.

One of the features of this dispersion process is the growth of gated communities. Reis (2006) indicated that these changes are promoting a new pattern of metropolitan life, with greater demands on new ways of life in society. According to the author (Reis, 2006), the changes occurred in cities after 1970, when the real estate market divided the land that had been collectively or private used in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo appeared the first gated communities. Maia (2006)affirmed these new forms of urban occupation, that now exist in Brazil, were common before this in the United States as suburbs, created exclusively for the elite social classes.

The Brazilian elite in the cities sought to distance themselves from the rest of the population, by constructing their palaces in newly opened avenues which often lead to expansion of cities. Today not only do the walls separate the city from rural areas, but walls also divide the subdivisions from the cities. Maia (2006, p.164) pointed out that the Brazilian legislation which regulates land divisions, whether open or closed, has been changed over the course of time, emphasizing the implications of urbanization and real estate market on the formulation of the laws.

According CALDEIRA (2000), the process of spatial segregation causes both social and spatial changes. The social segregation can become a major threat in Brazilian cities, ending in urban breakdown and separation of society. This socio-spatial segregation causes the absence of public space and limits the interaction between social classes, which are increasingly divided in the urban space. The author also affirms both social and spatial segregation are an important characteristic of cities. The rules that organize the urban space are basically patterns of social differentiation and separation. These forms of segregation produce a spatial fragmentation, keeping people within their peer


group and distancing them from others considered undesirable. Residents isolate themselves from the daily reality and look for the perfect life between walls.

Reis (2006) indicated that the causes of these spatial changes occurred between 1970 and 1980 in the Paraíba Valley, which is in the western part of São Paulo state, Brazil. Along with the dispersion of industries, new forms of gated communities were produced. These new forms caught the attention of commerce, and together, they migrate to areas nearby.

The process of expansion of gated communities has intensified in Brazilian midsized cities, which indicates that they have adequate resources for these new homes, not only in their infrastructure, but also in the economy needed to promote local public policies. However, this expanding process of spatial segregation occurred as a new model of urban fabric that was modeled after an industrial expansion coming from the São Paulo Metropolitan Region and towards the Paraíba Valley, where the real estate market has increased land value.

PROCESS OF URBANIZATION AND URBAN SPRAWL OF THE CITY OF CAÇAPAVA

The municipality of Caçapava is located in the Paraíba Valley in eastern São Paulo state, Brazil (Figure 1). The city is situated between the Serra do Mar and Serra da Mantiqueira, two important smount, and intersected by floodplains of the Paraíba do Sul river basin. According to the city government (2011), the municipality of Caçapava covers an area of 369.907 km², with 19% allocated for urban area and 81% rural. Its population, according to the IBGE census of 2000, was estimated at 76,130 inhabitants, and in 2010 there were 84,752 inhabitants, representing an increase of 11%. Of the total population in 2010, 86% lived in urban areas and only 14% in rural areas. The urban population increased 194% in the past 40 years. In 1970, Caçapava had 24,634 inhabitants living in urban areas and 72,517 in 2010.


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Figure 1- Location of the county of Caçapava

Caçapava is a midsized city, with a developed industrial center due to demetropolitanisation of the city of São Paulo, the President Dutra Highway, which connects the city to the two most important economic centers of Brazil, and its proximity to São Jose dos Campos, the main city in the Paraíba Valley. Caçapava is approximately 108 km from state capital, and is easily connected through the President Dutra and Carvalho Pinto Highways.

The expansion of the urban area of Caçapava adjacent to already urbanized areas, depends on the accessibility of population to urban infrastructure. This expansion has predominantly been and still is along the President Dutra Highway. Not only has there been an increase of populated areas, but also industrial areas which although small have impacted urban growth. With the decentralization of labor in the metropolitan area, there was an accumulation of labor in other industrialized urban centers.

The President Dutra Highway was inaugurated in 1954 to facilitate the interconnection between the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The municipality of Caçapava received industries that were located along the President Dutra Highway, transforming the rural town of the 1960s into the current midsized the city. The urban growth of Caçapava was more intense around the years analyzed of 1984, 1991, 2000 and 2010, which illustrate its regions of expansion (Figure 2).


Figure 2 - Map of the urban area of Caçapava at four distinct time: 1984, 1991, 2000, and 2010.

Source: elaborated by author

Between 1984 and 2010, the urban area grew 69%. This urbanization was produced in the Paraíba Valley after the demetropolitanisation of the city of São Paulo, in which some industries migrated to midsized cities that were economically interconnected to the metropolis, and the land price were lower, as reported by Maria da Encarnação Spósito. According to Santos (1988), considerable number of educated professions also migrated to these cities, enabling the exchange between them, where the creation and transmission of knowledge has a privileged place. Therefore, the city is a key driver of development and improvement of techniques. The urban area of Caçapava grew with more intensity, in absolute terms, between 1991 and 2000 and to a lesser degree between 2000 and 2010.

According to SEADE (2010), in the same period, the cash flows of the municipality grew by 138%, between 1999 and 2008, with industry being the major contributor. In 2008, 57% of the cash flows came from industry and 43% of the service sector. The total municipal revenues also grew between 1991 and 2009 by approximately 58%. Over the same period, the number of industrial, commercial, and service establishments grew 19%, predominantly in the service sector (58%). Figure 3 illustrates the growth of Caçapava, which grew 44.3% from 1991 to 2000 and 8.1% from 2000 to 2010.

RIBEIRO (2011) draws attention to this growth, because as the expansion of urbanization in the city without integrated occupancy guidelines may lead to


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serious problems, as was already observed in the region, such as uncontrolled growth, low housing quality, widespread lack of infrastructure, security, and services for the disabled, frail and those with less purchasing power. This unorganized growth is reflected in increased demand for housing, which is characterized only by the action of agents space (Estate Syndicators), together with the power of the municipal government that elaborated a policy for housing development in Caçapava that favored the emergence of gated communities, thereby establishing a new urban landscape for the city.

Figure 3 - Urban Growth of Caçapava between 1984 and 2010, measured in percent.


Caçapava is a midsized city that has gone through different spatial changes over the past three decades and these changes continue to occur. According to Ribeiro (2001), there was an attempt to industrialize Caçapava in the late Empire and early Republic periods, favoring the concentration of small businesses and workshops, whose main raw material came from the agricultural sector. This agricultural period lost importance about 1990, at the time industries became an important source of taxes, and the city grew along the President Dutra highway.

The city began to show dispersed growth, as shown in our research. With the intensification of urbanization, Caçapava began to expand in accordance with the development and installation of industries that were located throughout the city. This is also when the gated communities began in Caçapava.

The city spread along the President Dutra Highway and around the Paraíba River, heading north, until 1997, and currently, the city is extending to the south, as cited by Ribeiro (2001). However, the extension of Caçapava only occurred with the installation of industries in the years 1990 to 2000, with various branches of industry causing migrant into the city and municipality. It is worth noting that the city of Caçapava is not considered an industrial center because the city's economy is still based on commercial activities and agricultural production. The factories are considered minorities in relation to commerce in the city. Currently, most industries in the municipality are related to auto part factories.


NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND TYPOLOGIES OF GATED COMMUNITIES IN CAÇAPAVA

The concept of housing in fortified enclaves is increasing in Brazilian society. As an empirical object of study, the city of Caçapava reflects these new housing concepts, which are changing and fragmenting Brazilian urban space. The changes in the structure of cities, as in the construction of walls and rules as well as the distancing of public space, have created a private city within a city with public spaces. Figure 4 illustrates the expansion of fortified enclaves in the midsized city of Caçapava, which began in the mid-1984.

These enclaves have distinct characteristics, which can be verified in the map of different typologies (figure 5). The municipality of Caçapava is in constant transformation, illustrated by an emerging new housing style and a new lifestyle that is demanded by the middle and upper classes.

In this research, the gated communities of Caçapava were classified according to the existing infrastructure in and around these gated communities. According to Weber (1968), the new urban society is increasingly less dependent on relationships within the city, allowing it to spread to areas increasingly distant from urban centers. In places with these new forms of urbanization, there is an overvaluation of the space, creating a new lifestyle.

According to Caldeira (2000), gated communities in Brazil consist of walled areas with not connected houses, in terms of neighborhood relationship. This fragmentation of the living space is a consequence of this process, and an important milestone for the city to understand both the issues of the fortified enclaves and peripheries. The outskirts of the city are often excluded from or have minimal public services. The enclaves are derived and insulated by walls, fences, and technological devices of security. The gated communities grow rapidly, requiring an appropriate intra-urban structure, considering location and accessibility, making the space more privileged.


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URBAN GROWTH AND ESTABLISHMENT OF GATED COMMUNITIES IN CAÇAPAVA

Legend

Gated communities

Urban areas

Figure 4 - Urban growth and development of gated communities in Caçapava.


Thus, upper and middle classes seek more social welfare, isolation from other communities, each in a fortified enclave for the economic status of a particular social class. Our results identify that the urban space Caçapava is constantly changing, with reorganization of urban housing in homogeneous spaces, which have similar characteristics that differentiate them from rest of the city. In Caçapava, it is observed that these residents are not interested in gated communities with large spaces, because more than half of the fortified enclaves are characterized by small houses, small lots, and high density. These characteristics are different from the usual concept of housing in fortified enclaves, which is reflected in the concept of distance, characterized by social exclusion. Figure 5 typologically identifies five classes that were mapped in this study:


Typological class 1: These developments have the characteristics of small gated communities, with lots ranging in size from 60 to 100 m², with no green areas, with a small area of collective use, and are very close to the shopping center. These are designed for the middle class.

Typological class 2: These are gated communities and wall subdivisions occupying homes without green areas. One walled subdivision has 16 houses, and the remainder have higher occupation density which varies from 50 to 150 residences. These are occupied by middle class in Caçapava.

Typological class 3: This class aggregates developments with lots sizes of 127 to 600 m2; only one condominium has green area, most of the gated communities are located around five kilometers from shopping centers, high density of lots and occupied by middle class.

Typological class 4: This class represents gated communities with lot sizes of 127 to 600 m². Three subdivisions have green space, good infrastructure, technological devices, and are far from the shopping center (more than five kilometers). These clearly meet the usual concepts of living in a fortified enclave, with some middle class, but predominately the upper class residents.

Typological Class 5: This class only has one subdivision, Residencial Terras de Santa Mariana, which is the largest fortified enclave of the city, with 162 lots of 2200 m² each and a total green space of 63,000 m². At the time of this study, this subdivision was under construction and this is clearly built for the class with high purchasing power.

The typology was defined according to specific characterizations including lot size in m², green space of each development, occupational density, distance from shopping centers, and number of existing lots.


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Figure 5. Map of Final Typology of the gated communities and wall subdivisions Source: elaborated by author

The final classification represents the differences in existing gated communities in the closed city of Caçapava. While fortified enclaves may seem homogeneous, they can actually be classified by major differences in their characteristics. The distance from the shopping centers, Figure 6, is a factor that contributes to this segregation: only 8% of the fortified enclaves of the city of Caçapava are located 8 km away from the shopping center, and 20% of the fortified enclaves are only 2 km away. These projects represent a new concept of housing that is being adopted by a society that increasingly seeks to differentiate the patterns of interaction between classes and distance from the chaos of urban centers.

The city is an example of space as a field of dispute expressing more clearly, the social contradictions of the current economic system. Diverse and scattered areas in the city increasingly demonstrate the process of fragmentation of the area, with "cities within a city" that are unknown and strange (SPOSITOandWHITACKER, 2006, p. 131-132).

According to the discussion of CALDEIRA (2000), the rules that organize the urban space are basically patterns of social differentiation and segregation.


Thus, a society which seeks separation from the centers is looking for distance from activities that occur in urban areas, and the society which participates in them. Therefore, it is understandable why these changes have occurred in the urban space in the midsized city of Caçapava.

Figure 6. Mapping of the distance from the shopping center.


FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND TYPES

Spósito (2006) states that fortified enclaves began to emerge and expand in the interior of São Paulo state after the 1990s. In Caçapava, gated communities have been developed since then, which shows that these models expanded at the same time as the fortified enclaves of in São Paulo. The urban space became more diverse and similar to the metropolitan area, which is represented today, in large spaces and large homes in this new housing model. For Spósito (2006), it is a fact that the urban world is strongly linked to the ideals of modern and new, and they in turn have been linked to metropolitan life. From this perspective, it is possible to understand that when society has


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better purchasing power and increases the means of consumption, their demands for housing will be modified.

In the city of Caçapava, the gated communities are dispersed throughout the perimeter of the urban area, which is an existing pattern in other cities. Both the social and spatial impacts have transformed the space that was more dynamic and diversified with regard to social classes. These classes are reshaping the new way of life, and increasingly demanding new housing forms. These forms make the space more fragmented, ever intensifying the installation of subdivisions in the city.

In this sense, this research aimed to show urban sprawl and mapping of different types of gated communities in the city of Caçapava. The different typological forms comprise a group of five typological classes, making it possible to identify the predominant concept of housing in each fortified enclave. Only one development has the expected characteristic of a gated community, it means 6% of the total. Most of the condominiums (41%) were classified as class 3, developments without green area, high density of lots and residents predominantly in the middle class. This type of condominium is more common because is more affordable than high standard condominiums and this life pattern has been reproduced as a model to be followed by middle class.

These features attract people who desire the concept of safe housing, without the day to day urban chaos, and these factors are particularly favored by the acceptance of public officials, who encourage organizations of urban space. Society will always look for innovations in their lifestyle, as stated by Professor Milton Santos. The definition of the types of gated communities proposed by this paper is determined according to the desire of different social classes that are served by these new developments. In addition, the state has adopted regulations that allow these types of housing to continue to expand.

Understandably, that urban space is constantly changing, but when these changes favor the wealthier in society, enabling them to have the best locations, different socio-spatial conflicts in the city may be generated. These factors can lead to the creation of cities within the city, and increasing the walls.

REFERENCES

CALDEIRA, Teresa Pires do Rio. Cidade de Muros: crime, segregação e Cidadania em São Paulo. São Paulo: Editora 34/Edusp, 2000.

CAMPOS FILHO, Cândido Malta. Cidades Brasileiras: Seu Controle ou Caos: O Que Os Cidadãos Devem Fazer Para A Humanização das Cidades No Brasil. 2º Ed. São Paulo: Nobel, 1992.

CORRÊA, R.L. O espaço urbano. 3 ed. São Paulo: Ática, 1995.

COSTA, S.M.F. da. Detecção e avaliação de mudanças ,na estrutura intraurbana da cidade de São José dos Campos, SP, utilizando dados e técnicas de


geoprocessamento: uma análise multitemporal. São José dos Campos, FAPESP, 2001. Relatório de Pesquisa (Linha Regular).

____. Crescimento Urbano e Meio Ambiente - Um estudo da relação entre as políticas públicas e os novos padrões de urbanização em São José dos Campos, SP entre 1997-2005. São José dos Campos, FAPESP, 2008. Relatório de Pesquisa (Linha Regular).

FORLIN, Luiz Gustavo. Urbanização e Segregação Sócio-Espacial na cidade de São José dos Campos, caso Pinheirinho. Trabalho de Graduação. TG - UNIVAP, 2006.

GODÓI MARIA, M. Novas formas de ocupação urbana: os loteamentos fechados em São José dos Campos. Dissertação. PLUR-UNIVAP, 2008.

MARICATO, Erminia. Habitação e Cidade. 1997. São Paulo: Atual, 1997.

PEREIRA, Fabiano. Cidades Médias Brasileiras: Uma Tipologia a partir de suas deseconomias. 2002. Dissertação (Mestrado em Planejamento Urbano) – CEDEPLAR – UFMG. 86 RABELO, Alex Pires, SANT’ANNA ,Rogério Harley, SANT’ANNA, Kellen Suleyzy. A Expansão urbana do município de Jacareí, no período de 1998 a 2008: Um estudo á luz dos loteamentos e condomínio residenciais fechados horizontais. TG UNIVAP- 2009.

RIBEIRO, L. C. Queiroz. Dos Cortiços aos Condomínios Fechados: As Formas de Produção de Moradia na Cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2011.

RIBEIRO, Marciana Ribeiro. Novas Formas de Ocupação do meio rural e natural do município de Caçapava-SP, 2006, Dissertação Mestrado(UNIVAP).

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