Do urban densification policies promote just climate adaptation in Global South cities?

Reflections from the case of São Paulo

Abstract

In the face of the drastic events triggered by the climate crisis, multiple measures have been proposed for adaptation policies in urban territories. At the international level, the promotion of compact cities has been promoted as a primary measure, as it has the potential to promote the reduction of motorized travel, the conservation of green areas around cities, and the democratization of infrastructure. In the contemporary capitalist context, however, such measures involve the high-profit interests linked to real estate developers, which ends up fostering gentrification dynamics, especially in a context of great inequalities such as those observed in the global south. From a climate justice perspective, which places social inclusion and the reduction of inequalities as fundamental principles to guide adaptation measures, the article critically analyzes densification policies currently in force in the city of São Paulo, problematizing to what extent the reorientation of planning from the perspective of the compact city actually contributes to just adaptation in the context of the global south. The paper highlights the contradictions between high amounts of building density and the reproduction of exclusionary logics that reiterate climate injustice.