Grounded relationalities, the socio-ecological (de/re)territorialization of São Paulo's urban marginalities

Lerchs, Lucas

doi:10.5194/gh-81-237-2026

Articles | Volume 81, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-237-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Marginal urbanities: the hidden faces of planetary...

https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-237-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 81, issue 1

Standard article

|

24 Mar 2026

Standard article |

| 24 Mar 2026

Grounded relationalities, the socio-ecological (de/re)territorialization of São Paulo's urban marginalities

Lucas Lerchs

Cited articles

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Amaral, R. D. and Ross, J. L. S.: A legislação e a gestão para redução de riscos relacionados a inundações no município de São Paulo/SP, Sociedade & Natureza, 32, 501–514, 2022.

Arantes, P. F.: Arquitetura Nova: Sérgio Ferro, Flávio Império e Rodrigo Lefèvre, de Artigas aos mutirões, Editora 34, ISBN 978-85-7326-251-3, https://editora34.com.br/detalhe.asp?id=231 (last access: December 2025), 2002.

Bonduki, N. G.: Habitação & autogestão: construindo territórios de utopia, https://autogestao.unmp.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Habitacao-Autogestao-1992.pdf (last access: January 2026), 1992.

Caldeira, T.: Fortified Enclaves: The New Urban Segregation, Public Culture, 8, 0899-236319610802-0006$01.OO, 1996.

More articles (50)

Short summary

This study retraces the production, loss, and defence of a self-built urban settlement in the ecological peripheries of São Paulo. This study explores how such self-built marginalized communities build and defend their territory in the face of environmental laws and urban expansion. It shows how everyday relations with land and the ecologies – what the work calls grounded relationalities – are both the basis of home and the target of oppression and potential resistance for the evicted families.