Chasing the city that cannot stop: Exploring transportation and urban co-development in São Paulo’s history
We present a historical analysis of transportation and urban development in São Paulo (Brazil), attempting to discern Granger causal effects using historical land-use and transportation data from 1881 to 2013. Our results align with the hypothesis commonly stated in the literature about the relevanc...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Center for Transportation Studies
2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156404 |
| _version_ | 1824457900128468992 |
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| author | Borges Costa, Adriano Zegras, P Christopher Biderman, Ciro |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning Borges Costa, Adriano Zegras, P Christopher Biderman, Ciro |
| author_sort | Borges Costa, Adriano |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We present a historical analysis of transportation and urban development in São Paulo (Brazil), attempting to discern Granger causal effects using historical land-use and transportation data from 1881 to 2013. Our results align with the hypothesis commonly stated in the literature about the relevance of road transportation in São Paulo’s peripheral urban expansion during the twentieth century. We find, however, more complex relationships, and changes in them, over time. Over the entire 130 years, we find that urban expansion and road development pushed and pulled each other, in a somewhat “orderly” way. On the other hand, while roads are not linked to densification, we find that mass transit infrastructure did lead to building densification. Distinguishing among distinct periods adds further insights. Examining São Paulo’s “streetcar era” we find joint development of streetcar lines and urban expansion – evidence of joint development consistent with “streetcar suburbs.” Streetcars also led to building densification during this early period. In subsequent decades, up until the mid-1970s, mass transit investments are virtually non-existent and road transportation essentially chases urban expansion, not vice versa. Finally, the last four decades reveal a return to “orderly” patterns of road expansion and urbanization but no evidence of mass transit infrastructure’s effects on urbanization or densification. The analysis illustrates how transportation investment choices have important consequences for urban growth, exerting long-lasting influences on its urban form. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:46:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/156404 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:17:20Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Center for Transportation Studies |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1564042024-12-23T06:06:37Z Chasing the city that cannot stop: Exploring transportation and urban co-development in São Paulo’s history Borges Costa, Adriano Zegras, P Christopher Biderman, Ciro Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning We present a historical analysis of transportation and urban development in São Paulo (Brazil), attempting to discern Granger causal effects using historical land-use and transportation data from 1881 to 2013. Our results align with the hypothesis commonly stated in the literature about the relevance of road transportation in São Paulo’s peripheral urban expansion during the twentieth century. We find, however, more complex relationships, and changes in them, over time. Over the entire 130 years, we find that urban expansion and road development pushed and pulled each other, in a somewhat “orderly” way. On the other hand, while roads are not linked to densification, we find that mass transit infrastructure did lead to building densification. Distinguishing among distinct periods adds further insights. Examining São Paulo’s “streetcar era” we find joint development of streetcar lines and urban expansion – evidence of joint development consistent with “streetcar suburbs.” Streetcars also led to building densification during this early period. In subsequent decades, up until the mid-1970s, mass transit investments are virtually non-existent and road transportation essentially chases urban expansion, not vice versa. Finally, the last four decades reveal a return to “orderly” patterns of road expansion and urbanization but no evidence of mass transit infrastructure’s effects on urbanization or densification. The analysis illustrates how transportation investment choices have important consequences for urban growth, exerting long-lasting influences on its urban form. 2024-08-27T19:40:41Z 2024-08-27T19:40:41Z 2021 2024-08-27T19:36:25Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156404 Borges Costa, A., Zegras, P. C., & Biderman, C. (2021). Chasing the city that cannot stop: Exploring transportation and urban co-development in São Paulo’s history. Journal of Transport and Land Use, 14(1), 1075–1098. en 10.5198/jtlu.2021.1969 Journal of Transport and Land Use Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ application/pdf Center for Transportation Studies Center for Transportation Studies |
| spellingShingle | Borges Costa, Adriano Zegras, P Christopher Biderman, Ciro Chasing the city that cannot stop: Exploring transportation and urban co-development in São Paulo’s history |
| title | Chasing the city that cannot stop: Exploring transportation and urban co-development in São Paulo’s history |
| title_full | Chasing the city that cannot stop: Exploring transportation and urban co-development in São Paulo’s history |
| title_fullStr | Chasing the city that cannot stop: Exploring transportation and urban co-development in São Paulo’s history |
| title_full_unstemmed | Chasing the city that cannot stop: Exploring transportation and urban co-development in São Paulo’s history |
| title_short | Chasing the city that cannot stop: Exploring transportation and urban co-development in São Paulo’s history |
| title_sort | chasing the city that cannot stop exploring transportation and urban co development in sao paulo s history |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156404 |
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