Doctoral Dissertation Research: Urban Government and Residential Segregation in Brazil

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Alejandro PortesAdrianna AbdenurPrinceton UniversityLatin American cities historically have exhibited high levels of class segregation between neighborhoods. Since the mid-1980s, countries in the region has an increase in wealth inequality and soaring crime rates that have produced residential changes like the spread of gated communities in cities across the region. Despite regional trends there has been considerable variation in the orientation of local governments towards residential segregation. Yet, however, recent research on urban segregation in Latin America has focused on the role of market forces -- particularly the effects of liberalized land markets -- and broader exogenous phenomena such as economic restructuring in shaping segregation. As a result, the role of city government in shaping urban segregation in the region has not been well analyzed. This research examines the following question: What impact have city governments had on patterns of class segregation? The first part of the dissertation is a quantitative analysis, using Brazilian census data, of how government structure and policy impacts residential class segregation. The second part is an in-depth comparison of elite neighborhoods in four cities -- Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Porto Alegre, and Fortaleza. Archival and interview data will be analyzed to trace the impact that these cities' local governments have had (whether through state action or omission) on the production of spatial segregation patterns since the mid-1980s. The primary focus of the project is on the class dimension of segregation, which has received less empirical attention than race-based segregation. This study of how urban governance impacts socioeconomic segregation in Latin America has implications beyond the region itself. At a theoretical level, examining how city governments shape segregation will elucidate the role of the state (i.e., perpetuating or alleviating) in the spatial dimensions of inequality. The study could also potentially shed light on the range of policy alternatives pursued over the past twenty years as well as their concrete consequences.