Tourism in urban environments: the neighborhoods of Pinheiros and Vila Madalena in São Paulo

Abstract

The objective of this article is to present a reflection about the effects of tourism on urban environments, considering its development in the last decades, in eminently residential or mixed neighborhoods of the city of São Paulo. The object of study proposed focus on the trajectories of the neighborhoods of Pinheiros and Vila Madalena, located in the municipal southwest region which neighborhoods have been greatly modified by the expansion of food and beverage companies. It is an exploratory and descriptive research, of historical and qualitative approach, using a methodology of bibliographical, documentary and field research, involving visits for observation in loco. The preliminary results point an intense occupation and transformation of the neighborhoods by the tourist activity, based on the expansion of food and beverage companies, with a strong component of transformation from the original functions of the neighborhood, also by the intense process of the real estate speculation and verticalization. The conclusion is that there was a clear transformation in the original functions of the neighborhoods, considering, on the one hand, the consolidation of tourism and leisure, perceiving on the other hand, the need to preserve the original characteristics and cultural traditions of the neighborhoods.