GEO Brasil - UNEP

the state of urban and industrial areas
the state of the environment in Brazil
14 Social Inequalities
The metropolitan agglomerations and regions report the highest rates of informal
occupation, followed by lacking infrastructures and basic services These
weaknesses are partly due to the rapid process of urbanisation, which was not
proportionally matched by the development of public policies for housing,
sanitation, education, and healthcare This is also partly due to the huge social
inequality that characterised the development model adopted by the country
Other factors can be considered, such as the lack of accrued scale economies or
the reduced competitiveness in Brazilian urban agglomerations relative to urban
centres in other countries In short, a lengthy list of causes can be associated to
the current precarious environment that characterises the Brazilian metropolitan
areas
15 Recent Trends
Except for the peculiarities of the North
and Southeast Regions, the main
recent trends in the Brazilian urban
system are as follows:
Homogenisation of regional
urban networks, with a growing
share of major cities and
medium-sized cities;
Growth rates for medium-sized
and large cities above the
national average and also for
cities with 50-100 thousand
inhabitants situated outside
metropolitan regions;
Larger population growth in
agglomerations located in
metropolitan areas yet to be
institutionalised, such as
Goiânia, Brasília and Campinas;
Negative migration rates in small
cities, in virtually all-Brazilian
regions;
Increase in the relative share of
non-metropolitan cities with
more than 50 thousand and less
than 800 thousand inhabitants in
the Brazilian population total
This share jumped from 244
percent in 1970 to 29 percent in
1996
2
Population
Although indicators regarding access to housing in Brazil have experienced relative
improvement, the percentage of improper homes located in substandard
settlements (slums and similar areas), risky areas or environmentally protected
areas are still large Brazil continues to lack housing facilities, especially for the
poor segments of the population In 1998, there were 13 million permanent
private homes located in substandard settlements, out of which 798% were
situated in the ten main metropolitan regions of the country (Federal Government,
Ministry of Planning and Administration 2002)
An analysis of the Brazilian
population’s expansion over the
course of the 20th century shows an
extremely dynamic pattern of growth
with distinctive features in time and
space The population did not grow at
a linear rate and in successive periods
the vegetative growth rates increased
on a yearly basis, which was the case
during the first half of the century
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