Opportunity-enriching environments or isolating gated communities? Assessing the chances of socio-economic integration of the populations of four shantytowns of Salvador, Brazil,

Abstract

Grounded on semi-structured interviews, we seek to examine the impact of neighborhood effects on the individuals’ living conditions in four shanty-towns of Salvador, Brazil, addressing the question of under what conditions the proximity to affluent gated communities fosters their socio-economic integration. The research demonstrates that the relationship between spatial proximity and socio-economic integration is conditioned by the capacity of public space to promote (non)employment cross-class interactions, the impact of crime, and the gated communities' degree of securitization. Whereas in Calabar, large opportunities of socio-economic participation in its surroundings mitigate the negative impact of neighborhood effects, (non-)employment relationships sharply decline in the less centrally located Vale das Pedrinhas and Bate Facho, where the informal proletariat has been excluded from using the public space for commercial activities. The construction of the highly isolated gated community Alphaville II has neither fostered cross-class interactions nor benefitted the economic integration of the Vila Verde inhabitants. In all neighborhoods physical boundaries have been internalized by a similar discourse that emphasizes class-hierarchized opportunities for upward socio-economic mobility, particularly regarding the access to schools and public security. The study urges to reflect on a more holistic approach to social inequalities, comprising socially more integrative labor and housing policies.