The reproduction of social inequalities at neighborhood level in Salvador, Brazil: Does the spatial proximity to affluent gated communities mitigate neighborhood effects?

Abstract

ABSTRACT The paper examines the impact of neighborhood effects on individuals’ socioeconomic integration in two peripheral shanty-towns and in three favelas located in Brazil. In the peripheral São João do Cabrito, the individuals’ embeddedness in a homogeneously poor region fosters their social isolation; yet, in Fazenda Grande II/Jaguaripe I, the population’s socioeconomic heterogeneity attenuates neighborhood effects. The individuals’ functional integration vis-à-vis their wealthy surroundings declines toward the periphery of their neighborhood, their chances of integration being conditioned by the shared use of public space, and the surrounding gated communities’ degree of spatial isolation. We discuss three mechanisms that explain neighborhood effects: changes in the support structures, the impact of crime, and territorial stigmatization. We conclude that individuals’ chances of integration mainly depend on the spatial distribution of employment and urban services, rather than on their proximity to affluent neighborhoods.