Urban Restructuring and Sociospatial Self-Segregation in Resende, RJ

Abstract

The Middle Paraíba Valley has a strategic geographical position located between the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo metropolitan regions. During the 1990s this part of the valley received important public and private investment in infrastructure and benefited from post-Fordist trends in manufacturing. The arrival of new industries was linked to a process involving progress, modernization and visibility which was different from industrial trends of the past in the Paraíba Valley. Due to productive restructuring creating a new industrial pole there was greater demand for space. This resulted in property value appreciation and real estate speculation, which favored certain areas to the detriment of others excluded from the process. Closed condominiums and housing developments became common in the medium-sized city of Resende giving rise to a process of self-segregation.