Slum upgrading up close : experiences of six cities

The cities alliance has learned some of its most profound lessons through working with the Prefeitura da Cidade de Sao Paulo for some seven years. Building upon the lessons of the very successful Guarapiranga project, undertaken in partnership with the World Bank, the city of Sao Paulo approached the cities alliance for support in September 2001. In the proposal, the city signaled its intention to consolidate what it had learned, and continue to move beyond piecemeal approaches to upgrading its slums: The real challenge is to deal with the precarious land and housing tenure situation of those who are physically and socially excluded. To face up to this challenge, a shift in paradigms is required. A project-based approach grounded on the production of new housing and the extension of urban infrastructure networks, conceptualized and implemented separately by the different sectors of the municipal administration, must be replaced by a programmatic and integrated approach."