AUTHOR=Moreno Robson da Silva , Braga Diego Rafael Galvão Cesar , Xavier Luis Felipe 

TITLE=Socio-Ecological Conflicts in a Global South Metropolis: Opportunities and Threats of a Potential Greenway in the São Paulo Metropolitan Region

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sustainable Cities

VOLUME=Volume 3 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-cities/articles/10.3389/frsc.2021.706857

DOI=10.3389/frsc.2021.706857

ISSN=2624-9634

ABSTRACT=Urban greenways are part of the broad framework of green solutions adopted to promote urban “greening,” incorporating mitigation and adaptation strategies to the effort of dealing with climate change. Nevertheless, those solutions do not consider social conflicts. The typical characteristics of large urban settlements (such as commercial, industrial, and high-density residential areas), involving a multifunctional land use, with few public spaces, and fragmented landscapes make it challenging to apply these solutions to the urban fabric, forcing urban managers and planners to act on informal settlements, highways, and industrial parks. Spaces with the capacity to form an urban greenway and endowed with landscape potential and environmental fragilities are stages for conflicts and contradictions in land use, especially in an institutional context where the role of the State is restricted and selective. This work analyses the socioeconomic processes that shaped a potential area to create an urban greenway between Santo André, Mauá and Ribeirão Pires. The three municipalities are part of the São Paulo Metropolitan Region, the largest in South America. This proposed area is an enclave with unused or underutilized lots and many forms of land use: natural Atlantic forest fragments, conservation units, landfills and rapidly expanding informal settlements. We aim to emphasize the importance of tackling socio-environmental degradation and highlight the potential benefits of consolidating urban vacant spaces into an urban greenway.