Social Movements on the Occupation of Urban Voids in Central Areas and the Inclusive Facing of Climate Change: The Cases of São Paulo and Natal

ABSTRACT

Popular housing movements have been challenging the Brazilian’s exclusionary pattern of urbanization. Occupations of vacant buildings by social movements constrain the State to guarantee the right to the city, including housing. Climate change accentuates risks related to exclusionary urbanization and responses to its impacts demand mitigation and adaptation measures that support transformations tackling structural inequalities and helping to overcome vulnerabilities. The article aimed to highlight the dimensions of vulnerability and inequality, as well as the role of social movements in denouncing unequal processes and creating housing alternatives, using vacant buildings in central areas. To this purpose, we started from the premise of climate justice which highlights a social justice problem at the heart of climate change issues and performed a comparative analysis between urbanization dynamics and recent insurgent practices of social movements in São Paulo and Natal. It was found that the use of vacant properties in central areas promoted by social movements is aligned with the inclusive confrontation of climate change. However, difficulties persist such as a deadlock situation regarding measures to improve the safety and qualify the use of occupied buildings as well as to implement the right to the city comprising access to housing and infrastructure.

Keywords:
Right to the city; Urban voids; Social movements; Climate change; Climate justice