The article analyses urban population growth in the city of São Paulo in the 2000s. The recent publication of information from the 2010 Census reignited the debate on the city's central areas growth pattern. Using spatially disaggregated data, the article reveals the presence of growth patterns which are substantially more complex than usually noticed in the debate, and that include different growth rates in several areas, central and peripheral. The causes of such demographic tendencies are assessed considering indexes of real estate production, income variation, the presence of favelas, migration and fecundity, suggesting the presence of different growth paths and a growing heterogeneity in the metropolitan fabric.
São Paulo; population growth; 2010 Census; heterogeneous growth
