Linear Parks and the Political Ecologies of Permeability: Environmental displacement in São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

This article considers the politics of resettlement within ongoing efforts to construct the Tietê River Valley Park (Parque Várzeas do Tietê), a linear park that upon completion will be the largest linear park in the world. Located in the eastern periphery of São Paulo, Brazil, the proposed project uses riverbank naturalization to dampen floodpeaks and bring green space to underserved populations. Due to the presence of low‐income neighborhoods on the river's edge, however, the project calls for the removal of roughly 40,000 people. Drawing from urban political ecology and contemporary concerns about environmentally induced displacement, I consider the conflicts over resettlement that mark the project. I analyze the project itself and situate it within a regional context defined by autoconstruction, regularized flooding, and insecure tenure. I argue that despite claims that the project will yield less risky lives for displaced residents, the form through which the project is being developed actually puts displaced residents in heightened situations of risk. I consider how communities have organized to resist displacement, and call for an approach to governance in peripheral landscapes that takes seriously the histories of collective infrastructural provisioning and autoconstructed housing that have marked them for decades.

From “Government to Governance”? A Systematic Literature Review of Research for Urban Green Infrastructure Management in Latin America

“…In general, community organizations tended to have arisen as a coping mechanism (Nail and Erazo, 2018, p. 93) or a response to state neglect (Chelleri et al, 2016, p. 2;Millington, 2018;Diep et al, 2019) as opposed to active efforts by local authorities. A number of publications referenced long traditions of bottom-up community management in Chile and in Mexico that had been sidelined by government or marketled management practices in previous decades; these historical initiatives tended to be either a product of early twentieth century urban policies (Gurovich Weisman, 2003; Yáñez Andrade and Deichler, 2018) or longstanding indigenous traditions (González and Guillen, 2015;Pabello and Nasupcialy, 2019).…”

“…These challenges intersected with UGI governance in different ways, and all but the first presented a considerable source of local conflicts in the cases studied. A number of publications highlighted weak local government management (Escobedo et al, 2006;Flores-Xolocotzi, 2012;Serra-Llobet and Hermida, 2017, p. 3) or a general lack of state resources (Guerrero and Culós, 2007;Silva-Sánchez and Jacobi, 2016;Millington, 2018;Ojeda-Revah et al, 2020) as a barrier to effective governance, transparency, and participation. These factors were not universal, geographic variation in budgets, capabilities, and resources between municipal managers in the same city, and competition for investment meant dependence on private entities and a shift in priorities when considering UGI provision (Escobedo et al, 2006;Andrade et al, 2013;Babilonia et al, 2018).…”

“…Like underresourced and overly decentralized local governments, informal settlements are not unique to the Latin American context but are frequently present in rapidly urbanizing cities. Three of the articles found centered on informal settlements, two in São Paulo, Brazil (Millington, 2018;Diep et al, 2019) and one in Medellin, Colombia (Anguelovski et al, 2019). All three highlighted, either centrally or peripherally, the issue of displacement and the conflicts and issues that arose from this.…”

“…All three highlighted, either centrally or peripherally, the issue of displacement and the conflicts and issues that arose from this. Millington (2018) detailed the construction of a linear park in São Paulo that required the resettlement of roughly 40,000 people (p. 871). The issue of displacement in itself was not necessarily a cause of conflict, but resettlement plans were often badly executed and increased the vulnerabilities that the communities in these settlements faced, even when risk reduction was the primary reason for relocation (Millington, 2018, pp.…”

“…The Latin American context provides challenges and shapes priorities for environmental management, factors that include rapid urbanization, extreme privatization, high socio-spatial inequality, water scarcity, and lack of adequate waste disposal facilities (Heinreichs et al, 2009;Zurbriggen, 2011;Millington, 2018;Dobbs et al, 2019;Vásquez et al, 2019). These contextual factors provide contrast to some areas of the Global North but alignment with other areas in the Global South.…”