A apropriação capitalista do espaço urbano: apontamentos sobre o processo de segregação socioespacial

Abstract

This study seeks to understand how the capitalist mode of production, through the appropriation of urban space, generates phenomena of socio-spatial segregation. The methodology adopted consists of a theoretical study grounded in authors from the marxist tradition, aiming to analyze the processes of peripheralization, favelization, and gentrification as manifestations of contemporary socio-spatial segregation. Initially, the study revisits the historical formation of the foundations of capitalist sociability and the increasing complexity of the social division of labor stemming from so-called “primitive accumulation,” as well as the establishment of social classes characteristic of capitalism. Subsequently, the impacts of industrialization on the appropriation of urban space and the resulting intensification of social segregation are discussed. Finally, the study seeks to understand the impacts on social classes by considering the phenomena of peripheralization, gentrification, and favelization as contemporary expressions of socio-spatial segregation. Thus, it can be argued that socio-spatial segregation, as manifested in its various expressions, constitutes a process in which the State, far from acting in a neutral manner, plays a central role by directing investments and public policies unevenly, thereby contributing to the reproduction of urban and social inequalities. It is concluded that, in contemporary capitalism, these phenomena tend to intensify, reinforcing inequalities and spatial hierarchies.