Opinion – Claudio Bernardes: The real estate market can contribute to the social structure of cities

A city is defined not only by a physical built environment, surrounded by concrete buildings, avenues and viaducts, but also by a social structure linked to interactions between people —and between spaces and people— in urban areas. In this way, the physical environment of cities, and the way in which it is produced and operated, has significant consequences in the formation of its social structure.

However, it is necessary to emphasize that the cities, even if built in an identical way, would differ from each other, as the behavior of people is directly linked to customs, traditions and feelings inherent and transmitted by tradition. The city is not, in other words, just a physical model of artificial construction. It is involved in the vital processes of the people who compose it and is therefore also a product of human nature.

On the other hand, recognizing that cities have important effects on people’s lives leads us to understand that the adoption of different paths for their construction, operation and functioning will produce different results in the social structure of these urban areas. Thus, the conjunction of the city’s physical development model with the cultural and behavioral characteristics of its population will form the basis of its social structure.

We are talking about development, land use, green areas, urban infrastructure, transport, densification and housing. Aspects strongly related to the structuring of the city and the real estate market, an important economic sector, which helps to materialize urban spaces, using the concepts and rules established by the planners.

The real estate market is responsible for the occupation of a considerable part of the urban fabric. Through the segmentation of specific demands, this sector plays a central role in the formation of the urban social structure, enabling the occupation of spaces by specific groups and in specific places. This context gains relevance as the nature of urban development changes, and the decisions of private sector actors play an increasing role in the formation of this social structure.

It is important to bear in mind that the socio-spatial differentiation of the urban fabric is created much more by economic situations, and those induced by planning, than by people’s preferences.

Financial and governmental guidelines therefore regulate the dynamics of urbanization. Thus, individuals have to adapt their preferences to what is offered, under conditions that adjust to their ability to pay.

The creation of urban space is not a neutral activity from the point of view of social structure, and the offer of real estate products linked to economic issues and urban regulations is extremely relevant in this process. Once the necessary boundary conditions are met, entrepreneurs can create a great diversity of “products” to meet the full range of potential segments of the residential market, for example, enabling a socio-spatial distribution in the city, which contributes to the formation of its social structure.

Large-scale developments can go further and shape the set of externalities that affect housing, defining its main characteristics and the pattern of infrastructure, including parks, schools, commercial and business centers. That is, they can create their own location, with a wide scope to influence the social structure of the city.

Some residential developments are particularly relevant because they manage to segment the population, in a specific space, by income, social position and lifestyle. However, it seems increasingly clear that this segmentation is not a desirable pattern for the construction of a healthy society, and there should be adequate urban rules that allow the market to use this potential to create a more diverse structure from a social point of view. .

Urban development is a complex, dynamic and regional process. This suggests that approaches to the analysis of how real estate developers can contribute to the fabrication of urban space, with significantly positive results for the social structure of cities, should enter the focus of debates.